On the evening of June 23, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev held a meeting in Baku. This is stated in a message posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website.
During the talks, Lavrov noted that Moscow is ready to contribute in every way to the implementation of the three documents signed by the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia on November 9, 2020, January 11 and November 26, 2021.
"The trilateral working group on unblocking communications, according to our assessment, is making some progress. We are discussing the issues to be agreed with the Armenian side. We have a common understanding of how to solve the problem of organizing car traffic in the most comfortable way so as not to create any artificial obstacles. Russia will contribute to this work until the result is achieved. I hope that it will happen soon", the Russian minister said.
He also noted that Moscow is ready to provide advisory services in the work of two commissions on delimitation and demarcation of borders established in Azerbaijan and Armenia. "There are specific proposals on this matter. I would be happy to discuss them with you", Lavrov added.
"You mentioned the normalization of relations, the peace treaty, the provisions of the future treaty that you handed over. We know about the readiness of the Armenian side, Prime Minister N.V. Pashinyan, to negotiate on this topic. We are ready to assist with the consent of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Other international forums where Azerbaijan and Russia are present, such as the UN, the OSCE, the "Caspian five", allow us to develop our cooperation in the foreign policy. The Fifth Caspian summit will be held in Ashgabat in a week. We are actively preparing it. We are discussing with my colleague and friend D.A.Bayramov documents that can be proposed to the leaders for approval", Russian Foreign Minister said.
In turn, Ilham Aliyev drew attention to the fact that at the beginning of the year Azerbaijan and the Russian Federation gave a good start to a new stage of bilateral relations.
“Of course, the signing of the Declaration on Allied Interaction in Moscow. I believe that this is a fundamental document for the future development of our relations, which is an excellent outcome of very effective log-term cooperation. A lot has already been done in the framework of the implementation of the provisions of the declaration. I am sure that within the framework of your visit, new steps will be taken in this direction. It is noteworthy that in the year of the 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations' establishment, we sort of summed up everything that has been done and determined further directions for the development of friendly, good-neighbourly relations", the Azerbaijani leader said.
Speaking about Azerbaijan-Armenia relations normalization process, he stressed that Baku's position on this issue is aimed at establishing long-term peace in the region. "I am sure that the efforts that we are making will also be positively received by the Armenian side, and the long-term confrontation will be put to an end. Our proposal to start work on a peace treaty remains unanswered, but we still hope that this proposal will be positively received", Ilham Aliyev said.
"Among the positive moments, I would like to note the intensification of the work of the trilateral working group chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia. Just recently there was a new meeting in St. Petersburg. We hope that there will also be practical steps in the implementation of the November 2020 declaration, precisely in the context of opening communications and ensuring unhindered access for Azerbaijani cargo and citizens to communicate with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, which is a legal obligation of the Armenian side. But, unfortunately, more than a year and a half after the Second Karabakh War end, this paragraph of the declaration has not been fulfilled yet. In general, within the framework of our concept of the situation's normalization, I think that it will be possible to find very practical steps that will contribute to this, and we also count, of course, on the active efforts of the Russian Federation in establishing a lasting peace in the Caucasus", AZERTAC quoted the President of Azerbaijan.
