The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, in the midst of negotiating an end to their conflict, will meet on Thursday in Moldova under the auspices of French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Council President Charles Michel, he confirmed on Tuesday. the Elysee.

Yerevan and Baku have been at odds for decades over control of the predominantly Armenian-populated Azeri region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azeri President Ilham Aliyev had already met in the same context during the first summit of the European Political Community in October in Prague.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not present at the Prague meeting but will be at the one in Chisinau, on the sidelines of the second summit of the European Political Community.

Tensions in relations between the presidents of Azerbaijan and France rose in late 2022, with Macron then accusing Russia of “playing the game” of Baku, with “Turkish complicity” against Armenia.

Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have intensified and appear to have made progress in recent weeks, with a push from the European Union and the US.

Parallel talks are also being held under the auspices of Russian President Vladimir Putin, such as last week in Moscow.

On May 14, at a meeting organized in Brussels by Charles Michel, the two leaders agreed to mutual recognition of territorial integrity.

“A peace treaty can be signed,” Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Paris said on Friday, stressing that talks in Chisinau could be decisive.

Baku and Yerevan fought two wars — in the late 1990s and after the 2020s — over control of Nagorno-Karabakh.

In 2020, Armenia ceded parts of territory it had controlled for decades.

The Azeris have also blocked a vital road linking Armenia with Nagorno-Karabakh for months.