15:05,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 23, ARMENPRESS. Armen Melikbekyan has been re-elected as President of the Football Federation of Armenia (FFA).
In the elections held on Saturday, 20 members of the FFA Executive Committee backed his candidacy.
Armenian national team midfielder, who was also running for the FFA President, has gained three votes.
Tuesday,
Reporter Banned From Armenian Parliament After Row With Lawmaker
• Naira Bulghadarian
Armenia - Journalist Knar Manukian speaks to RFE/RL, .
An Armenian journalist has been stripped of her parliamentary accreditation
after arguing with a senior pro-government deputy who accused her newspaper of
corruption.
The controversial lawmaker, Artur Hovannisian, attacked the Zhoghovurd newspaper
and two other media outlets on December 7 as the National Assembly refused to
reelect Haykuhi Harutiunian as head of an anti-corruption body scrutinizing the
declared incomes of state officials.
The parliament debate and an ensuing vote came several days after Zhoghovurd
reported that several deputies from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil
Contract party held a confidential meeting with Harutiunian to complain about
the body’s actions taken against them, their relatives or friends.
“For example, somebody may pay the Zhoghovurd daily to commission an article
saying bad things about somebody else, which is a normal practice for Zhoghovurd
or, for example, Asekose.am or Hraparak [daily,]” Hovannisian declared on the
parliament floor.
Following the debate, the paper’s parliamentary correspondent, Knar Manukian,
approached Hovannisian in the parliament lobby and challenged him to “prove what
you just said” by submitting a crime report to law-enforcement authorities. The
lawmaker, who is the number two figure in the ruling party’s parliamentary
group, refused to do that or answer questions from Manukian during the angry
exchange.
On December 15, Zhoghovurd posted on its news website, Armlur.am, a video of its
interviews with journalists and media experts who condemned Hovannisian’s
allegations and accused the Armenian authorities of seeking to silence
independent media. A few hours later the paper received a letter from the
National Assembly saying that Manukian’s press credentials have been revoked
because she tried to interview Hovannisian in an “unauthorized area” before
“chasing” him and making “slanderous” claims.
Armenia - Pro-government deputy Artur Hovannisian (left) attends a paliament
committee meeting, April 4, 2023.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Zhoghovurd condemned the ban and said it is
preparing a lawsuit against Hovannisian.
Manukian was also unrepentant, saying that she “defended the honor of my media
outlet” and did not break any rules set for parliamentary correspondents. She
argued that security guards witnessed her conversation with the parliamentarian
and did not intervene.
“Many deputies shun journalists who ask them tough questions, and you have no
choice but to run after them with a microphone in your hand and try to get
answers to your questions,” the reporter told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Pashinian’s party seriously restricted journalists’ freedom of movements inside
the parliament building in 2021, drawing strong condemnation from Armenian media
groups. A year later, it amended an Armenian law on mass media to allow the
parliament, the prime minister’s office and other government agencies to revoke
journalists’ accreditations typically valid for one year. Incidentally,
Hovannisian was one of the authors of those amendments.
Also, Hovannisian was among pro-government lawmakers who shouted in April this
year abuse and threats at an outspoken opposition candidate for the then vacant
post of Armenia’s human rights ombudsman. He pledged to “cut the tongues and
ears of anyone” who would make disparaging comments about the 2018 “velvet
revolution” that brought Pashinian to power.
No One Charged Over Azeri Advance Into Armenian Border Area
• Shoghik Galstian
A new Azerbaijani army position outside the Armenian village of Tegh, March 31,
2023.
Law-enforcement authorities have not prosecuted any of the officials blamed by
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian for Azerbaijan’s seizure last spring of
agricultural lands belonging to an Armenian border village.
Azerbaijani army units redeployed on March 30 to more parts of the Lachin
district sandwiched between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, completing a change in
the route of the Lachin corridor which began in August 2022. Armenia’s National
Security Service (NSS) said hours later that they advanced up to 300 meters into
Armenian territory at five border locations adjacent to the village of Tegh.
As a result, Tegh lost a large part of its agricultural land and pastures,
according to local government officials and farmers. Tensions around the village
escalated on April 11 into a skirmish between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces
which left at least seven soldiers from both sides dead.
The Armenian opposition blamed Pashinian for the fresh territorial gains made by
Azerbaijan. Opposition leaders said he should have ordered the Armenian army or
border guards to take up positions along the Armenian side of the Tegh border
section ahead of the Azerbaijani advance.
Pashinian sought to shift the blame onto other Armenian officials. “Concrete
individuals were given concrete instructions and they failed to carry out those
instructions,” he said on April 12.
The premier did not name any of them. He sacked the commander of Armenia’s
Border Guard Troops, Colonel Arman Maralchian, the same day.
Two days later, military investigators launched an inquiry into possible
“negligence” by military officers or other security personnel, a crime
punishable by between four and eight years’ imprisonment.
In a statement to RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, the Office of the
Prosecutor-General said on Tuesday that they have not charged anyone so far. The
probe is continuing, the office said without giving further details.
Opposition leaders also hold Pashinian responsible for larger swathes of
Armenian territory occupied by Azerbaijan in September 2022 and May 2021. They
regularly accuse him of incompetence and failure to rebuild Armenia’s armed
forces after the 2020 war in Karabakh. Pashinian blames the country’s former
governments for its continuing security woes.
Pashinian Concerned About ‘Artificial Delay’ In Armenia-Azerbaijan Talks
• Astghik Bedevian
Armenia - Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian promotes transport links with
Azerbaijan and Turkey sought by his goverment during an international forum in
Yerevan, December 14, 2023.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian appears to have suggested that Azerbaijan is
dragging its feet on a peace treaty with Armenia sought by the international
community.
“We remain committed to our peace agenda within the framework of three
principles already agreed upon and hope that recent events in the region and
regional countries will not ultimately mean that the peace process is being
artificially delayed,” Pashinian said late on Monday.
“If there is more basis to this view, it must be cause for very deep concern,”
he added during a year-end reception held at the Armenian Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said late last month that Azerbaijan is “not
sincerely interested in peace and stability in our region.” He pointed to Baku’s
threats of military action against Armenia and refusal to attend high-level
peace talks organized by the European Union and the United States.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev twice cancelled talks with Pashinian which EU
Council President Charles Michel planned to host in October. Azerbaijani Foreign
Minister Jeyhun Bayramov similarly withdrew from a November 20 meeting with
Mirzoyan in Washington. Baku accused the Western powers of pro-Armenian bias and
proposed direct negotiations with Yerevan.
Meeting with Michel on Monday, Armenia’s new ambassador to the EU, Tigran
Balayan, claimed that the Azerbaijani side cancelled the October summits as part
of its “continuous attempts to derail the peace process.” Balayan was also
reported to urge the EU to help ensure “Baku’s return to the negotiation table.”
James O’Brien, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasia,
visited Baku earlier this month in a bid to convince the Azerbaijani leadership
to reschedule the cancelled meeting of the foreign ministers. The conflicting
sides have not yet announce any agreement to that effect.
Armenian officials suggested earlier this year that Aliyev is reluctant to sign
the kind of peace deal that would preclude Azerbaijani territorial claims to
Armenia. The Azerbaijani leader said late last month that Yerevan itself is
“artificially dragging out the process.”
Reposted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
Copyright (c) 2023 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
Article written by Bethany Hanson, Science Communications Writer.
Let’s head into the Caucasus for the next stop on our World of Genomics tour, Armenia! With an alphabet that dates back to 405AD and one of the world’s oldest cities, Yerevan, Armenia is famed for its rich, ancient history. Today, Armenia is taking new steps into the world of in genomic medicine.
Fun fact: Chess is a mandatory subject for school children in Armenia!
Sharing borders with Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iran, the country is nestled in the Caucasus Mountains. Much of the country sits on a high, volcanic plateau1. The landlocked country has no lowlands and an average elevation of 1,800m above sea level. This unique geography creates stunning landscapes of soaring mountains cut through by deep river valleys. In the east of the country, Lake Sevan sits in the Sevan Basin, surrounded by peaks reaching 3,600m high! In the southwest the Aras River cuts across the Ararat Plain, creating rich alluvial soils and acting as a boarder for Turkey to the South1.
Armenia has an incredibly rich history stretching all the way back to the Bronze Age, with the earliest evidence of human settlement dated somewhere between 4,000 and 2,200 BC. At this time, the area was settled by many small nations and tribes, which became the genetic foundation of the Armenian population, known as the Hayk1.
Over the following centuries, the area was conquered Alexander the Great and later became part of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires. At its greatest point, the Armenian kingdom encompassed parts of Iran and the Middle East1.
During World War I, the Armenian population faced direct persecution as the Ottoman government, the Young Turks, who initiated a brutal campaign to deport and exterminate the Armenian people. The Turkish authorities viewed Armenian citizens as a foreign threat aligned with pro-Christian enemies. In what became known as the Armenian Genocide, hundreds of thousands of people were driven from their homes or killed. Estimated death tolls range from 600,000 to 1,500,000. Tens of thousands of refugees fled to Russia, Syria, Lebanon, the United States and France. As a result, very few Armenians remained in their historical homeland1.
As WW1 raged, Armenia briefly declared independence in 1918 before it became a Soviet republic in 1920. For the next 71 years, Armenia saw a period of relative stability and development but at the cost of aggressive suppression of historical Armenian culture and national ambition. In the late 20th century, the Armenians again sought independence and it was finally declared in 1991. This led to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan, which resulted in thousands of casualties1.
Currently, 98% of the population identify as ethnically Armenian and speak Armenian Hayeran, a unique Indo-European language. In 2011, 94% of Armenians identified as Christian, with the vast majority belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
After gaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Armenian Healthcare system underwent a series of rapid reforms, including partial privatisation, to replace the largely centralised Soviet structure. The State Health Agency (SHA) was established in 1997, as an independent public body but was incorporated into the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 20013.
Through the SHA, the MOH functions as the single payer and purchaser of medical services covered under the Basic Benefits Package (BBP)3. The BBP only covers “vulnerable groups” such as children, the elderly, people with disabilities, low-income families and veterans.
Despite the BBP, 85% of Armenian healthcare is currently paid for out of pocket. 1 in 5 households spend 10% of their income on healthcare and 2 of 3 people report foregoing necessary healthcare due to the cost4.
The WHO has reported that over the last few decades Armenia’s healthcare system has been chronically underfunded4. Between 1990 and 2020, hospital beds decreased by 58%3. Health spending stagnated and only accounts for a small portion of the governmental budget. Hospital interventions consume 50% of the national budget, which has left community level care either inadequate or completely absent in rural areas. Though, since 2006, primary care has been free for those covered by the BBP.
However, on the 2nd February 23 the Armenian Government announced the start of a phased introduction to universal health insurance, starting with public sector employees5. This would make all healthcare free at the point of access and they aim to reach full coverage by 2027. Furthermore, in March 2023, the Armenian Ministry of Health announced they are moving forward with a restructure of their primary care system in collaboration with the WHO European Centre. The reforms aim to target workforce shortages and family medicine provision.
Leading causes of death in Armenia (per 100,000):
Currently, noncommunicable diseases account for 93% of deaths, significantly higher than the global average of 71%. WHO figures from 2016 show that 22% of Armenians are likely to die prematurely (between 30 and 69 years) from cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases or cancer. They estimated that the economic impact of noncommunicable diseases on the Armenian economy to be 363 billion USD, equivalent to 6.5% of the country’s GDP.
A rise in unhealthy lifestyles is a main contributing factor to mortality in Armenia. In 2016, 54% of the adult population were overweight and 20% were obese. This is lower than the European averages of 59% and 23%, respectively, but has shown a consistent increase since 2000. Furthermore, smoking is very prevalent in those over the ages of 15 and especially in men. 25.5% of Armenians smoke, which is higher than the EU average of 24.7%. However, in 2020, the National Assembly of Armenia implemented new regulations restricting tobacco advertising and banning smoking in both indoor and outdoor public areas, including bars and restaurants.
Over the last two decades, Armenia implemented several national strategies aiming to improve maternal and infant care. As a result, between 2000 and 2019, maternal mortality dropped from 43 to 26 per 100,000 live births. In the same period, infant mortality dropped from 27 to 10.5 per 1,000 live births. These rates are still higher than the WHO European Region average but show consistent decline.
As part of its wider healthcare improvement plan, Armenia has been investing in hospital-based TB care and has changed protocols to create a more person-centred approach to TB prevention and treatment. These changes resulted in improved financial efficiency and allowed the reallocation of resources to further develop TB services. They aim to eliminate TB in the country by 2030.
There is currently only one health centre in Armenia that provides genetic services for direct patient care. Founded in 1998 by Armenian geneticist Professor Tamara Sarkisian and located in the capital city of Yerevan, the Centre of Medical Genetics and Primary Health Care of Armenia (CMG) provides many genomic services, including genetic counselling. Hereditary risk screening is available for a range of diseases, and they have dedicated labs for cytogenetics, molecular diagnostics, cancer genetics and the genetics of autoinflammation.
The CMG cancer laboratory’s analyses covers all of the somatic mutations of genes for targeted cancer therapies required by international guidelines. Additionally, their next-generation sequencing screens cover the 84 specific genes laid out in European Molecular Quality Network requirements as being associated with all known types of hereditary cancer6.
However, this facility is simply not accessible to the majority of the population. With the services only provided in the capital, those outside of the city need to travel for treatment and currently, genetic testing is very rarely used due to the high-cost of both initial testing and subsequent targeted therapy. While pre-natal testing is available, newborn sequencing is not currently available to Armenian patients.
In September 2020, a conscious push to expand the Armenian healthcare system’s knowledge of and capacity for precision medicine began. The Yerevan State Medical University hosted the programme “Twinning for the Armenian Research Infrastructure on Cancer Research” or ARICE project, which received full funding from the EU. The programme connects Armenian research institutions with world leading experts to accelerate progress in developing the country’s cancer research infrastructure.
As a result of the ARICE programme, participating European institutes provided YSMU with 71 biobanking Standard Operating procedures, which allowed the Armenian team to standardise their protocols to align with EU standards. The aim is that this will allow for sharing of biobanked data between Armenia and other EU countries7. Armenia has not adopted the federal act on human genetic testing8. However, in February 2022, the Armenian government approved the “Rules of Professional Ethics of the Healthcare Professional” in collaboration with the Council of Europe’s project on “Protection of Human Rights in Biomedicine”.
In July of 2022, the American genetics company, BostonGene opened a new facility in Yerevan. Sargis Gevorgyan, Director of BostonGene’s Armenian branch at the time, said that they chose the country due to its scientific potential. He also stated that they aim to work closely with universities to train new geneticists9.
Just a few months later, Illumina, in collaboration with Professor Tamara Sarkisian, opened a genetic laboratory, Genotek, aiming to provide wider private access to genetic services for Armenian patients. The laboratory will work in collaboration with the CMG by providing doctors with access to more efficient sequencing technologies and training.
While these new genomic facilities increase the availability of genomic technology, it does not currently address the cost prohibition faced by most Armenian patients. It is unclear how Armenia’s eventual universal health insurance policy will address the need for precision medicine.
Notable Organisations
Notable individuals
In recent years, Armenia as seen a large, private investment to establish new genomic laboratories in the capital city, Yerevan. Alongside international collaborations, this has the potential to result in cheaper genetic tests, greater access to sequencers and more healthcare professionals being trained in genomic medicine. With the Illumina, Genotek and BostonGene labs up and running alongside the Centre of Medical Genetics and Primary Health Care, Armenia could very well establish itself as a hub for precision care and genomic research.
However, at the time of writing, the Armenian Government has not announced any policies explaining how genomic testing, precision medicine or genetic counselling will be integrated into their universal health insurance roll out.
So, while it looks likely that Armenia’s capacity for genomic medicine will improve in the next few years, this will likely not improve accessibility for most patients until cost is removed as a barrier.
Yerevan’s Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall will host a charity concert by the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra and violin virtuoso Sergey Khachatryan under the baton of conductor Sergey Smbatyan.
The concert is scheduled for December 19.
All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to UNICEF to meet the primary needs of refugee children from Artsakh, organizers said.
The program features Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's “Christmas Eve” and Alexander Glazunov's “Violin Concerto”.
21:32,
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan on December 11 had a meeting with the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Catherine Colonna in Brussels.
The foreign ministers discussed issues of the Armenian-French bilateral agenda and practical cooperation in various fields, the foreign ministry of the Republic of Armenia said.
According to the source, both parties emphasized their readiness and commitment to close interaction in deepening the Armenian-EU partnership and implementing current programs.
Issues related to regional security and stability, the challenges in establishing peace were discussed. Ararat Mirzoyan presented Catherine Colonna the latest developments in the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It is noted that ideas were exchanged regarding cooperation on international platforms.
Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan said Thursday they would exchange prisoners of war and work towards normalising their relations, in a joint statement hailed by the EU as a "breakthrough".
The Caucasus neighbours have been locked in a decades-long conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan reclaimed after a lightning offensive against Armenian separatists in September.
Both countries have said a peace agreement could be signed by the end of the year, but peace talks — mediated separately by the European Union, the United States and Russia — have seen little progress.
On Thursday, the two sides agreed in a joint statement to seize "a historical chance to achieve a long-awaited peace in the region".
"The two countries reconfirm their intention to normalize relations and to reach the peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity," the statement said.
Baku will free 32 Armenian prisoners of war, while Yerevan will release two Azerbaijani servicemen, according to the statement.
The two countries also said they "will continue their discussions regarding the implementation of more confidence building measures, effective in the near future and call on the international community to support their efforts".
The agreements were reached during talks between the office of Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the administration of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.
Armenia's foreign ministry said Yerevan had "responded positively to the offer of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to organise the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington".
EU Council President Charles Michel praised the statement Thursday in a post on social media, calling it a "key step".
"Delighted to welcome a major breakthrough in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations as they issue a joint statement," he said.
Aliyev and Pashinyan have met on several occasions for normalisation talks mediated by the European Union.
But the process has stalled over the last two months as two rounds of negotiations failed to take place.
Azerbaijan refused to participate in talks with Armenia that were planned in the United States on November 20, over what it said was Washington's "biased" position.
In October, Aliyev declined to attend a round of negotiations with Pashinyan in Spain, that time accusing France of bias.
French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had been scheduled to join Michel as mediators at those talks.
So far, there has been no visible progress in EU efforts to organise a fresh round of negotiations.
The traditional regional power broker Russia — bogged down in its Ukraine war — has seen its influence wane in the Caucasus.
Aliyev sent troops to Karabakh on September 19, and after just one day of fighting, Armenian separatist forces that had controlled the disputed region for three decades laid down arms and agreed to reintegrate with Baku.
Over the following days, almost the entire Armenian population of the mountainous enclave — more than 100,000 people — fled Karabakh for Armenia, sparking a refugee crisis.
Azerbaijan's victory marked the end of the territorial dispute, which saw Azerbaijan and Armenia fight two wars — in 2020 and the 1990s — that have claimed tens of thousands of lives from both sides.
(AFP)
23:29, 7 December 2023
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, ARMENPRESS. On December 7 Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Ararat Mirzoyan received Louis Bono, the Senior Adviser for Caucasus Negotiations, the U.S. Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group.
The interlocutors touched upon topics of regional security and stability.
The recent developments in the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the positions of the sides on the draft peace treaty were discussed. The Armenian side responded positively to the offer of the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to organize the meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington.
22:06, 5 December 2023
YEREVAN, MBER 5, ARMENPRESS. On December 5, Paruyr Hovhannisyan, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia received Hector Isidro Arenas Neira, the newly-appointed Ambassador of Colombia to Armenia (residence in Moscow), on the occasion of handing over the copy of his credentials.
Congratulating Ambassador on the occasion of his assignment, the Deputy Foreign Minister wished him fruitful and effective work. The Armenian side noted the importance of developing multi-faceted relations with Colombia, the active cooperation of accredited Ambassadors was highlighted, the foreign ministry said.
The Ambassador of Colombia, thanking for the warm greetings and good wishes, expressed his commitment to make efforts towards strengthening relations between the two countries.
During the meeting, the sides touched upon the opportunities of the development of bilateral agenda, including the areas of common interest, as well as the activation of cooperation on multilateral platforms.
According to the source, the Deputy Minister briefed the Ambassador on the current security situation in Armenia, as well as the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The efforts by the government of Armenia towards addressy the needs and rights of the Armenians forcibly displaced from Nagorno Karabakh as a result of the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh by Azerbaijan were emphasized.
It is noted that a number of international issues were touched upon.
13:16, 4 December 2023
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 4, ARMENPRESS. The First Lady of Poland Agata Kornhauser-Duda visited Armenia on November 28-29.
At the airport, First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda was welcomed by Deputy Foreign Minister Paruyr Hovhannisyan and the Ambassador of Poland to Armenia Piotr Skwieciński.
As part of the visit, Agata Kornhauser-Duda met with representatives of the Polish community in Armenia, as well as with students and teachers of the Polish language. As part of the ‘Aid to Poles in the East’, the First Lady provided material assistance as well as educational and teaching materials, the Embassy of Poland said in a press release.
During the visit to Yerevan, the First Lady of Poland was hosted by Mission Armenia, where she met with the refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh.
The 'Mission Armenia' Charitable Non-Governmental Organization was founded in 1988 by a group of volunteers, who united their efforts to bring aid to the victims of the catastrophic earthquake in 1988 and to the refugees, who fled the war for Nagorno-Karabakh in the 1990s.
During her talks held with refugees, the First Lady asked, among others, how the forced displacement from Nagorno-Karabakh took place, as well as what they needed most and how they envisioned their future.
The meeting was attended by Alla Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the organization and representatives of the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR Armenia.
In connection with the crisis in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, RARS and the Ministry of National Defense, implemented, among others, humanitarian transportation for refugees. In response to UNHCR's appeal, funds in the amount of USD 300,000 were also provided. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Yerevan, in cooperation with Armenian Caritas, provided a special aid for a group of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh who currently live in the Tegh community.
The First Lady of Poland also visited the Komitas Museum-Institute in Yerevan, where she met with representatives of the Polish community in Armenia. The meeting was enriched by the performance of the "Poloniada" choir. After the concert, the First Lady toured the Museum, where she became acquainted with the life and activities of Komitas, the creator of Armenian national classical music.
ISTANBUL
Azerbaijan and Armenia revived talks Thursday on border delimitation as peace efforts intensified.
A statement by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said the fifth meeting of the State Commission on the Delimitation of the State Border between Baku and Yerevan was held on the border between the two countries.
It indicated that the meeting took place under the chairmanship of the Azerbaijani and Armenian prime ministers and said the parties discussed “several organizational and procedural matters and proceeded with their discussion on delimitation issues.”
The statement said both sides agreed to start working on talks for a draft regulation on joint activities of the state commission on border delimitation and the commission on the delimitation of the state border and border security.
“The parties also had come to an agreement to intensify the meetings of the commissions. The parties also agreed to determine the date and venue for the next meeting of the Commissions,” it said.
Relations between Baku and Yerevan have remained tense since 1991 when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement that also opened the door to normalization.
Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh after an "anti-terrorism operation" in September, after which separatist forces in the region surrendered.