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Armenian and Azerbaijani senior officials have moved to reduce tensions that erupted following an outcry in Armenia after a visit by foreign diplomats to Karabakh and surrounding regions, and a subsequent reaction in Azerbaijan. Armenia’s Security Council Secretary Alen Simonyan has said that following the events that took place at Gandzasar Monastery, he spoke by phone with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev. Responding to a question about whether he plans to publicly respond to Hajiyev’s statements regarding Gandzasar, Simonyan said at a press briefing that not all statements necessarily need to receive a public response. “I think everything has been said, and not everything that is said always needs a response. We need to realize whether this will change something or not. I can say something sharp now, respond in some way, we can all feel good for 15 minutes, but by doing so I could harm the negotiations,” Simonyan said. He stressed that the peace process requires a cautious approach. (click image to read more)

The Armenian news website, news.am, interviewed the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus, Magdalena Grono. Ms Grono dismissed criticism of her visit, and that of a large number of diplomats and representatives of international organisations, to Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories, on 11 - 12 September 2026. Speaking about the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, EUSR Grono said that "Significant challenges remain, not in the least when it comes to dealing with past traumas and suffering and the cases of missing persons, among others. For peace to be genuinely irreversible, legacies of past conflict will need to be addressed by the sides. It is our strong hope that Yerevan and Baku will address these challenges in the framework of their broader reconciliation efforts at the right time. For its part, the EU will continue to support the bilateral peace as much as possible."  (Click the image to read the interview in full)

The European Parliament, during its plenary session in Strasbourg, approved the European Commission's proposal to apply a system of trade measures for "Made in Armenia" products, which means there will be a temporary elimination of customs duties on a wide range of products imported from Armenia to the European Union.   The proposal presented by the European Commission was adopted at the plenary session of the Council of Europe with 583 votes in favor, 49 against and 39 abstentions. According to the proposal, the European Union plans to eliminate customs duties on a number of Armenian goods for a period of two years. At the same time, it is planned to establish duty-free import quotas for eight types of Armenian agricultural products. These include grapes, apricots, cherries, peaches, and cucumbers. The draft also provides for safeguard mechanisms that will allow the European Union to intervene, if necessary, if increased imports from Armenia have a negative impact on European producers. This step is due to the restrictions imposed by Russia on a number of important Armenian export products since May 2026. They relate, in particular, to alcoholic beverages, mineral waters, fruits and vegetables, as well as their transit through Russian territory. According to the European Commission, these restrictions have disrupted Armenia's traditional supply chains and significantly limited the country's access to traditional export markets. The situation has had a particularly severe impact on small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as agricultural producers, while creating challenges for Armenia's economic resilience. The EU sees the initiative as a temporary measure to support the Armenian economy and create additional opportunities for exporters to access the EU market. The next step for the proposal is formal approval by the EU Council. The regulation will enter into force the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union. Let us recall that on September 2, the Council of the European Union approved the proposal to establish temporary trade liberalization measures for Armenian products and sent the draft to the European Parliament for approval.