Azerbaijanis and Armenians presented a joint vision of peace in the South Caucasus

Baku/07.04.22/Turan: On April 6, Brussels hosted the presentation of the Report of the Joint Armenian-Azerbaijani Contact Group on Confidence-Building Measures in Support of Lasting Peace in the South Caucasus on the topic: “South Caucasus from War to Peace: Thirty Measures to 2030”. 

Armenia and Azerbaijan should build the future on the basis of mutual trust and confidence, this is the leitmotif of the report.

The event was attended by the authors of the study, EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Clark, representatives of international structures, embassies of Azerbaijan and Armenia. Today, discussions continued with the participation of experts from Europe and the United States. The report is devoted to relations between Armenians and Azerbaijanis, and provides for agreements that include Georgia.

The authors propose 30 confidence-building measures in the region by 2030. In particular, initiate diplomatic contacts with a view to holding a conference on peace, stability and security in the South Caucasus with the participation of all interested parties, which would lead to the signing of a regional pact on peace, stability and security by the end of 2030.

In addition, the contact group took the initiative to discuss the future of the peacekeeping mechanisms in and around Karabakh, established in the framework of the tripartite statement of November 10, 2020.

It is proposed to establish an informal Armenian-Azerbaijani joint monitoring group of ten people to monitor the implementation of the tripartite statements and agreements of November 10, 2020, January 11, 2021 and November 26, 2021.

In addition, it is proposed to organize a dialogue at different levels to prevent incidents and investigate them, to expand the regional political dialogue through the inter-parliamentary framework of the South Caucasus.

The report contains confidence-building measures in border areas and within and between conflict-affected communities, as well as broader people-to-people contacts. Programs are also being initiated to support civil society, peacekeeping forces in Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as diasporas.

The idea of ​​creating and developing a joint Special Economic Zone in the area of ​​the Red Bridge was put forward as an example for future regional cooperation.

It is proposed to hold the first South Caucasian youth summer school in Georgia in 2022.

It is recommended to create a South Caucasus Media Platform between authoritative media organizations; enable them to produce daily 30-minute TV news programs that can be broadcast on the main TV channels. It is also proposed to establish the Cultural Heritage Fund of the South Caucasus.

The authors called on the governments of Azerbaijan and Armenia, as well as the Azerbaijani and Armenian peoples, to support the ideas of this report, and the international community to support the peace process in the region.

The Joint Armenian-Azerbaijani Contact Group on Confidence Building Measures in Support of Lasting Peace in the South Caucasus was established following a series of consultation meetings in 2021.

The members of the Joint Group are: Ahmad Alili, Mehman Aliyev, Stepan Grigoryan, Shahla Ismail, Samir Mammadov, Joni Melikyan, Beniamin Poghosyan, Ramazan Samadov and Anar Veliyev.

The initiative is supported by the British NGO Links.—06b-