30 steps from war to peace

Baku/11.04.22/Turan: On April 6, the report of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Contact Group "South Caucasus from War to Peace: Thirty Steps to 2030" was presented in Brussels.

The leitmotif of the report is that Azerbaijan and Armenia should build their future on the basis of mutual trust and confidence. The authors of the report propose to take 30 steps to build confidence in the region by 2030.

What are these steps?

Ahmed Alili, one of the members of the Armenian-Azerbaijani Joint Contact Group on Confidence Building Measures and Support for Stable Peace in the South Caucasus, answers these and other questions in the “Difficult Question” program.

According to Alili, the Joint Contact Group on Confidence Building Measures and Support for Stable Peace in the South Caucasus was established last fall after a series of consultation meetings in 2021, at the initiative of civil society activists. The founders of the group are the Caucasus Center for Political Analysis, Links (a British NGO) and the Armenian Center for Political and Economic Strategic Studies.

Within the framework of this project, the working group of the Joint Contact Group on Confidence Building Measures and Support for Stable Peace in the South Caucasus wrote three joint articles. The first one was devoted to the analysis of the situation in the region a year after the war, the second one – to the prospects for opening transport corridors in the region, and the third one – to what the world should be like in the future. The result of this work was the preparation of a report - "The South Caucasus from War to Peace: Thirty Measures to 2030".

According to Alili, among the proposed measures is the initiation of diplomatic contacts with the aim of holding a conference on peace, stability and security in the South Caucasus with the participation of all interested parties. The authors of the report believe that  this may lead to the signing  a regional pact on peace, stability and security.

It is also proposed to discuss future mechanisms for maintaining peace in Karabakh as part of a tripartite statement dated November 10, 2020.

In addition, it is proposed to create an informal Azerbaijani-Armenian monitoring group to monitor the implementation of the tripartite statements and agreements of November 10, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021; organizing dialogue at different levels to prevent incidents and investigate them; expansion of regional political dialogue within the framework of inter-parliamentary relations; development and implementation of programs to support civil society, peacekeeping forces in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as diasporas; creation and development of a joint Special Economic Zone in the area of ​​the Red Bridge as the basis for future regional cooperation, etc.

"The proposed measures can contribute to the signing  a regional pact on peace, stability and security," Alili hopes.