CIS chief says Aliyev and Pashinyan held warm talks in Dushanbe

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev met on the sidelines of the CIS summit in Dushanbe, where they discussed steps toward peace, CIS Secretary General Sergey Lebedev told TASS.

“The Armenian prime minister and the Azerbaijani president spoke very warmly and discussed how to move forward on the path to peace and security,” Lebedev said.

In his address to CIS leaders, Pashinyan thanked member states for supporting the peace agenda and said the settlement process with Azerbaijan was progressing constructively.

He briefed participants on the agreements reached on August 8 in Washington with the mediation of U.S. President Donald Trump, which included reopening communications and developing transport routes in the region.

Pashinyan recalled that in March the sides finalized the draft “Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations”, confirming that the former Soviet republics’ administrative borders are recognized as the international borders of independent states.

He expressed hope that the peace treaty initialed at the White House would soon be signed and ratified, noting that Baku and Yerevan still need to build trade, political and cultural ties and resolve humanitarian issues.