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.