ArmInfo.Today, after 4 hours of talks, the leaders of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan made a joint statement to the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked his counterparts, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia for agreeing to come to Moscow and meet in order to discuss issues related to the implementation of the terms of the peace agreement of November 9 last year. "We have come to the conclusion that the terms of this agreement are generally respected, and no serious incidents have been reported. The Russian peacekeeping group fully fulfills its obligations to both sides. More than 48 thousand displaced persons and refugees have already returned to Nagorno-Karabakh, and persistent work is underway to restore infrastructure, energy, housing, and social infrastructure. I consider today's meeting extremely important and useful, since we were able to come to an agreement and signed a joint statement on the development of the situation in the region, meaning concrete steps to build economic ties and develop infrastructure projects. For this purpose, a working group will be set up, headed by the deputy prime ministers of the three governments of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. In the near future they will create working expert subgroups, present concrete plans for the development of transport infrastructure and the region's economy. I am sure that the implementation of these agreements will bring benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples and will undoubtedly bring benefit to the region as a whole, and therefore the interests of the Russian Federation, "said the leader of Russia.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev thanked his Russian counterpart for the invitation and initiative to hold the meeting. "I also share your opinion that the meeting was very important in order to ensure the further, sustainable and safe development of our region. Two months have passed since the ceasefire, and the fact that today the leaders of the three countries who signed the statement of November 9-10 have gathered in Moscow suggests that we are determined to achieve a result, to draw a line under the actions that took place in September - November. And the statement that was signed today speaks of our intentions, because one of the points about the intentions to end hostilities was the unblocking of transport communications. This is an area that can give great dynamism to the development of the region, as well as strengthen security. Because the opening of communications meets the interests of the peoples of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and our neighbors. I am sure that neighboring countries will also join in the creation of transport corridors and the creation of an extensive network of transport arteries in our region. We must continue to strive to find those areas of activity that would give a quick effect and are focused on results. In general, I want to say that the joint statement of November 9-10 is being implemented successfully, most of the points of the statement have been fulfilled. The Russian peacekeeping mission is doing its job effectively and in two months, with the exception of minor incidents, there was no major cause for concern. All this instills confidence that, as Vladimir Vladimirovich once said, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is in the past, and we must think about the future. About how to live together in the neighborhood, how to strive to unblock the transport arteries and strengthen regional stability and security in the future. Once again, I express my gratitude for the invitation and I think that the meeting was very useful and fruitful, "Aliyev said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also thanked Vladimir Putin for the efforts that the Russian leader is investing in restoring stability and security in the region and in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. "Unfortunately, this conflict has not yet been resolved, of course we managed to secure a ceasefire, but there are still a lot of issues that must be resolved. One of these issues is the issue of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia is ready to continue negotiations within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Unfortunately, today we have not been able to resolve the issue of prisoners of war and this is the most sensitive and painful issue, because it is a humanitarian issue. We agreed that we will continue to work in this direction, but we believe, in particular, that the 8th paragraph of our joint statement, unfortunately, is not fully implemented and I hope that we will be able to come to a concrete decision as soon as possible. But I must say that the statement that we signed today is very important and I will not hide the fact that reaching agreements can change the economic appearance of our region and economic innovations can also lead to more reliable security guarantees and we are certainly ready to work constructively in this direction. However, unfortunately during one meeting it is impossible to resolve all issues and I hope that we will continue to move forward. For us, I want to emphasize that the main thing at the moment is the humanitarian issues of the exchange of prisoners of war, which are provided for in paragraph 8 of our joint statement of 9 -10 November>, Pashinyan emphasized.