President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, far left, and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during a dinner marking the 10th anniversary of EU’s Eastern Partnership Initiative

During a brief encounter in Brussels, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Monday voiced his concerns over Azerbaijani ceasefire violations to President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and discussed the current situation on the Artsakh borders.

The two leaders were seated at the same table in the Belgian capital during an event marking the 10th anniversary of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership Program.

Pashinyan’s spokesman Vladimir Karapetyan confirmed the discussion between Pashinyan and Aliyev to Armenpress.

“It was an official event that was organized in honor of Eastern Partnership countries. Yes, the Armenian Prime Minister and the Azerbaijani President were seated at the same table. A brief conversation took place. They discussed the situation that has been created at the Line of Contact. Meaning, an exchange of ideas about the situation,” Karapetyan said, stressing that the talks were unofficial.

Karapetyan added that “concern has been conveyed” regarding recent cross-border shootings by Azerbaijani forces toward the direction of Tavush Province and along the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border, commonly referred to as the line of contact.

On May 4, an Artsakh soldier was critically wounded when Azerbaijani forces opened fire across the border. An Armenian soldier was critically wounded on April 30 when Azerbaijani forces fired at the direction of Tavush Province in Armenia.

Azerbaijani also opened cross-border gunfire into Armenia earlier on April 30, wounding an on-duty soldier in Tavush Province.

“We briefly spoke with Mr. Aliyev at dinner. It was a general discussion about the current situation around Nagorno Karabakh,” Pashinyan told reporters, according to the Russian Tass news agency.

“I am confident that the negotiation process will continue, and it is very important now to return Nagorno Karabakh to the negotiation table. It is impossible to achieve a resolution to this conflict without Karabakh,” Pashinyan added, saying that there were no immediate plans for an official meeting with Aliyev.