Azerbaijan and Armenia tentatively agree on certain border sections

Azerbaijan and Armenia have tentatively agreed on the passage of certain sections of the border directly between the settlements in Armenia and Azerbaijan, respectively, Baganis-Baganis Ayrim, Voskepar-Ashagi Askipara, Kirants-Heyrimli and Berkaber-Gizilhajili, Report informs.

The eighth meeting of the State Commission on the Delimitation of the State Border between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the Commission on Issues of Delimitation of the State Border and Border Security of Armenia and Azerbaijan was held on April 19, 2024, on the border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. The event was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan Shahin Mustafayev and Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Mher Grigoryan,

As agreed by the parties during the meeting, at the initial stage of the delimitation process, sections of the border directly between these settlements were preliminarily agreed upon in order to bring them into line with the legally justified inter-republican border that existed within the Soviet Union at the time of its collapse.

The parties decided that the description of these sections of the border line will be drawn up taking into account the clarification of coordinates based on geodetic measurements on the ground, which will be formalized by the corresponding Description Protocol with a plan for approval and signing by May 15, 2024.

The parties also agreed that they will contact their governments to take measures for the simultaneous and parallel deployment of their border services on the agreed sections of the border line. Until the delimitation process is fully completed, the sections of the border line specified in the Description Protocol will be considered delimited.

In parallel, the parties agreed to complete the work on agreeing on the draft Regulations on the joint activities of the State Commission for the Delimitation of the State Border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia and the Commission for the Issues of Delimitation of the State Border and Border Security between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan by July 1, 2024 and to begin the process of domestic approvals and approval of the Regulations in the manner and in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the states of the Parties.

The parties agreed that the delimitation process will be based on the Almaty Declaration of 1991. The parties also agreed to fix this basic principle in the draft Regulations (if in the future the Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia is established otherwise, the corresponding paragraph of the Regulations will be brought into line with the principles established by this Agreement).

The sides agreed that after the Parties approve the Regulations, they should agree on the priority and continue the process of delimitation of all other sections of the border, including on the issues of enclaves and exclaves.

A protocol was signed based on the results of the meeting. The parties decided to agree on the date and place of the next working meeting.