U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to talk with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev soon, this according to U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.

Price, in a January 18 press briefing, said Blinken has spoken with Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan about restarting bilateral talks with Azerbaijan.

Here’s the exchange.

Q: Thank you so much. The Secretary today spoke with Armenian prime minister. Did he have a chance to dial Baku as well?

Price: Did we have a – I’m sorry?

Q: To call Azerbaijani officials?

Price: So, the Secretary did have an opportunity today to speak to the leader of Armenia. I do expect that he will have an opportunity in the coming days to speak to President Aliyev.

Q: According to your readout, they discussed the steps to restart bilateral talks with Azerbaijan. I was just wondering, are we in the process of putting together another round of meetings, or the Secretary is just trying to test the waters with the side to see if there’s any appetite for next round of dialogue?

Price: We’re going to do what is ultimately most helpful. And at the end of last year, there were a couple meetings that the Secretary chaired between his counterparts, a trilateral meeting between Armenia, Azerbaijan, with Secretary Blinken in the middle. We did that at Blair House. We did that in New York. Of course, we’ve seen setbacks when it comes to Nagorno-Karabakh of late. We want to see constructive dialogue put back on track. We stand ready to engage bilaterally. We stand ready to engage with and through partners, through the OSCE or, if appropriate, trilaterally, as we have done in the past.

Q: The same format or different format —

Price: We are going to do what is most effective at the right time.

Q: I know who is not going to be behind the table, which is Ambassador Reeker.

Price: Yes. Yes.

Q: Who is going to be behind the table from the sides? Like are you seeking presidential-level meetings or the foreign ministers?

Price: So, of course, Ambassador Reeker did retire from the Department of State after an illustrious 30-year career just last week. But there are a number of individuals in this department who are deeply invested in this process, not the least of whom is Secretary Blinken himself. This is a personal priority of his. But people like Toria Nuland, people like Karen Donfried, people like a number of the senior officials in our Bureau of European and Eurasian affairs, will remain deeply engaged in this.

Q: But from the other side, ministers or the presidents are you looking for? Who is going to be behind the other side of the table?

Price: That is for them to decide.