Armenia and Azerbaijan’s leaders held a brief discussion in Tirana on Friday during the European Political Community Summit.
The Armenian government then issued a statement saying that both sides “underlined the need for continued progress towards signing” the peace agreement between the two countries.
“The parties mutually emphasised the importance of finalising the text of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement. They discussed the current situation and underlined the need for continued progress toward signing,” the Armenian government press release said.
A video from the EPC summit shows Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addressing Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev in the corridors of the EPC summit in what appears to be an impromptu encounter.
In the video, Pashinyan says, “Let’s go have a coffee,” to which Aliyev replies, “I’ll come by after the talks.” Another video shows the two leaders having a seated conversation afterwards, surrounded by officials from both countries.
The meeting signals a continuing momentum after the two South Caucasus rival neighbours announced in March that they had finalised the text of a historic peace agreement to end decades of war over the Karabakh region.
The timeline for the conclusion of the agreement and its signing by both countries remains to be defined.