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Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the preamble and 15 out of 17 articles of the bilateral peace agreement, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has announced. 

"The challenges that the entire world faces nowadays makes us to be more vigilant in the issues related to peace and stability. Having this in mind, Armenia continues its constructive engagement in negotiations aiming to fully normalize relations with Azerbaijan," he said in his remarks at the 31st OSCE Ministerial Council on Thursday.

"This year the bilateral negotiations led to the signing of the Regulation for border delimitation between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which recognized the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration as a basis for delimitation of the border. On the ground, we succeeded to delimit more than 12 km of the border, and we hope that this document will pave the way for efficient continuation of the process and thus will largely contribute to stability in the region.

"We have also managed to achieve some progress towards signing the Peace Agreement between our two countries. We have agreed upon Preamble and 15 out of the 17 Articles of the draft Agreement, and if there is enough political will, it can be concluded and signed swiftly. Well, Armenia has continuously proven its readiness to sign the Agreement and close the page of enmity in South Caucasus.

"We are confident that peace has no alternative as the people in our region has already suffered a lot from bloody conflicts. Against all odds, we are determined to continue our efforts to reach the desired goal. In this regard, the connectivity project called “Crossroads of Peace” proposed by the Armenian side has a potential to increase trust, build confidence and foster better interaction between the countries of our region.

"We believe that full normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkiye, particularly establishment of diplomatic relations and opening of the borders can be another important contribution to peace and stability in the region. To this end, we continue the dialogue with our Turkish counterparts and take some practical steps which include joint assessment of the bridge between Armenia and Turkiye as well as the technical requirements for the border crossing by the Gyumri-Kars railway. Once the agreements are implemented, they will have positive impact on the people of the region and beyond," reads the statement.