MINSK, 15 October (BelTA) – Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reaffirms its country's readiness to begin demarcation and delimitation of the border with Azerbaijan as he addressed the web-based CIS summit on 15 October, BelTA has learned.
"Demarcation and delimitation of the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan is crucial to achieving lasting peace. We are ready to start this process. In this regard, we also hope for the support of Russia and our other international partners. An appropriate atmosphere is very important for overcoming the existing obstacles," Nikol Pashinyan said.
In that regard, he made a number of specific proposals.
He also noted that the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan is the key matter, and therefore it is important to continue the negotiation process in this regard. "We consider it important to restore the negotiation process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. In their statements over the last month, the co-chairs repeatedly noted the need to resume the peace process to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict," Nikol Pashinyan said.
The Armenian prime minister also praised the meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani ministers of foreign affairs in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and also in Minsk on 14 October with the mediation of the Russian minister of foreign affairs. “The upcoming visit of the co-chairpersons to the region and their visit to Nagorno-Karabakh will be an important event,” he added.
Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that his country is ready to work in all the suggested areas. “We are convinced that the implementation of all these tasks will ensure substantial progress in creating conditions for a lasting and durable peace in our region,” the prime minister stressed.
He said that he did not consider the CIS summit platform to be a convenient place for looking into the shared history of Armenia and Azerbaijan. The countries are now conducting such proceedings as part of their lawsuits in the international court in The Hague.
Responding to Nikol Pashinyan's words, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who is presiding at the event, said: “Thank you, you are absolutely right. The CIS is not a platform to consider individual issues. We do not have such powers and functions. However, we are grateful that you and Ilham Heydarovich [Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan] have informed the heads of state on the situation in your region. Our friends, both Azerbaijanis and Armenians, live there. We will certainly keep this information in mind while setting the agendas in our countries.