Baku will resist a quick peace deal with Armenia

Significance

The latest round of talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Geneva on March 22 ended without any concrete progress on negotiations over a bilateral peace agreement. The meeting was viewed as a confidence-building step following deadly clashes in February when four Armenian soldiers were killed in retaliation for wounding an Azerbaijani soldier.

Impacts

• Armenia and Turkey are slowly advancing towards rapprochement, but further progress will depend on negotiations between Baku and Yerevan.
• Armenia will seek closer ties with the EU to reduce its over-dependence on Russia in foreign policy.
• Azerbaijan will continue to increase its natural gas exports to EU markets.