Baku, December 2, AZERTAC

“At meetings held this year in Brussels, Prague and Sochi at the highest level both sides confirmed their mutual recognition of each other’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. I met Foreign Minister of Armenia three times to discuss the preparation of a bilateral treaty on the inter-state relations. At our latest meeting in Washington D.C. on 7 November 2022 we agreed to expedite negotiations to that end. With this in mind, Azerbaijan has already submitted to Armenia a set of comments on the draft agreement,” said Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov as he addressed the 29th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council held in Lodz, Poland.

“Azerbaijan’s approach is clear, consistent, and is based on international law. After almost thirty years of no formal relations, the urgent necessity for the sides is to agree on a legally binding document setting the foundation for their inter-state relations. This document shall guarantee their rights as two equal sovereign states and provide a basis for addressing all issues of common interest or concern falling into the realm of inter-state relations.

Despite increased dynamism in bilateral negotiations, the progress remains rather limited in three major tracks of Armenia-Azerbaijan inter-state normalization process, namely, signing a peace treaty, delimitation of borders and opening of regional communications.

In all three dimensions, Armenia sticks to past practice of imitation rather than engaging genuinely into the process. Despite verbal commitments to the peace agenda, Armenia tries to avoid implementing the obligations it has undertaken,” FM Bayramov added.