Azerbaijan and Armenia announced that the two countries would exchange prisoners of war, while normalizing relations and concluding a peace treaty on the basis of respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Prime Minister's Office of Azerbaijan and Armenia issued a joint statement on Thursday (December 7), saying that the two countries could sign a peace agreement within this year. According to the statement, the parties agreed to seize "the long-awaited historic opportunity to achieve peace in the region."
The two countries also said they "will continue to discuss the implementation of more measures that will come into force in the near future to build confidence and call on the international community to support their efforts." ”
As a gesture of goodwill, Baku** will release 32 Armenian prisoners of war, and the Yerevan side will release two Azerbaijani servicemen, the statement said. Armenia would withdraw its application and support Azerbaijan's bid to host the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
These agreements were reached during talks between the office of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashnyan and the government of Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. However, little progress has been made in the peace talks, mediated by the European Union, the United States and Russia, respectively.
In November, Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan said that Armenia and Azerbaijan had agreed on key principles of a peace treaty between the two countries.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, war broke out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the ownership of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. The Nagorno-Karabakh region is located in the southwestern part of Azerbaijan and is mostly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Although the two countries reached a comprehensive ceasefire agreement in 1994, they have been in a state of hostility over the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, and armed clashes have occurred from time to time.