Azernews.Az

Azerbaijani and Armenian officials have met in Brussels, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar has said on his official Twitter page.

"Happy to have been able to host [Azerbaijani presidential aide] Hikmat Hajiyev and [Armenian Security Council secretary] Armen Grigoryan in Brussels for a second meeting in this format," he wrote.

The European Union hosted a meeting of the abovementioned high-level officials from Azerbaijan and Armenia in Brussels on March 31 to advance joint efforts to find solutions to a range of issues between both countries.

The meeting between Hajiyev and Grigoryan was earlier facilitated by Klaar.

It was followed by a meeting between EU Council President Charles Michel, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Brussels on 6 April 2022.

The trilateral meeting was held for a continuation of the discussions on the situation in the South Caucasus region and the development of EU relations with both countries.

The leaders took stock of developments since their last meeting in Brussels in December 2021 and their videoconference, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, in February 2022. They reviewed progress on the implementation of undertaken commitments. The leaders discussed the recently reported tensions and reiterated the necessity of adhering fully to the provisions of the 9/10 November 2020 trilateral statement.

Both Aliyev and Pashinyan expressed a willingness to work quickly toward a peace agreement between their countries. To that end, it was decided to instruct foreign ministers to begin work on drafting a future peace treaty that would address all of the issues.

At the same time, it was also agreed to convene a Joint Border Commission by the end of April. The Joint Border Commission's mandate will be to: delimit the bilateral border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and ensure a stable security situation along and in the vicinity of the borderline.

In his speech at an international conference "South Caucasus: Development and Cooperation” held at ADA University on April 29, President Aliyev stressed that Azerbaijan has been actively advocating for the new era in the Caucasus, an era of peace and cooperation.

"And finally, we got a positive response from Armenia just recently, and their government accepted five basic principles which Azerbaijan put forward, the principles which should be a foundation for a peace agreement with Armenia. At the same time, also, based on the Azerbaijani proposal Armenia agreed finally to establish joint working groups with Azerbaijan to start the process of delimitation of our border," he said.

The president underlined that these are important signs of development.

"It also shows that now after a year and a half passed since the second Karabakh war, Armenian leadership and I hope population understands the necessity of peace. And if a peace agreement is signed and those basic principles are known, then, the peace in the Caucasus will be long-lasting and sustainable. This is what we want, and I think that what we demonstrate and what we announce is a clear example of our will to contribute to the peace in the Caucasus," he said.

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