The Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers held direct bilateral talks Saturday in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, which is the first between them since the war that broke out in 2020 between the two countries for control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The talks are a continuation of an agreement between the two Caucasus countries brokered by the European Union in May "to advance the talks" for a peace agreement.
The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the bilateral meeting between Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jehon Permov and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan is the first of its kind in the history of relations between the two countries.
The ministry explained that the two sides addressed a number of issues related to the normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, and discussed the implementation of the obligations between the two parties, and exchanged views on possible future steps.
According to the statement, Gehun called for directing all efforts towards achieving progress in regulating relations between the two countries, and stressed the need to implement all the provisions of the tripartite declaration concluded between the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, especially the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the territory of Azerbaijan.
Jehun stressed the importance of revealing the fate of about 4 thousand missing Azerbaijanis during the first "Karabakh" war.
For its part, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the diplomats discussed a wide range of issues related to the normalization of relations between the two countries.
She added that Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stressed during the meeting the importance of a political solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in order to build lasting peace in the region.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan decided, during their meeting in Brussels on April 6, to instruct the foreign ministries of the two countries to start preparations for a peace agreement and to form a joint commission on borders.
On September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched an operation to liberate its lands occupied by Armenia in the Karabakh region.
After fierce battles that lasted 44 days, Azerbaijan and Armenia reached on November 10, 2020, a ceasefire agreement, which stipulated the restoration of Baku control over the occupied provinces.