Baku hosting COP29 - ideal time for Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal, says Elchin Amirbayov

With the world's eyes on Baku for COP29, it's a perfect chance for Armenia and Azerbaijan to finally sign the peace agreement, Elchin Amirbayov, Representative of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on special assignments, said in an interview with NE Global, Azernews reports.

"One of the recent confidence-building measures which were achieved between Armenia and Azerbaijan was this deal which was reached last December (COP28 in Dubai) between the two countries when there was an arrangement on mutual freeing of some detainees and also exchange of diplomatic support to each other," he added.

He noted that Armenia lifted its veto on Azerbaijan’s bid to host COP29, and in return, Baku agreed to include Armenia in the executive committee for the global climate conference.

"Of course, that was a major breakthrough because it was for the first time that through direct low-level contacts, we were able to get this CBM (Confidence Building Measure) and that also showed that both countries are able to sort out their differences in direct, bilateral contacts without any third-party intervention," he noted.

Amirbayov added that the work on the peace agreement between Baku and Yerevan is ongoing.

"We are cautiously optimistic because we believe that it is doable to finalize negotiations to this text before COP29 even. It would give a strong signal also to the outside world that one of the most ancient and longest and tragic conflicts on the European continent in the post-Soviet space is coming to an end so I believe both countries and peoples of Armenia and Azerbaijan should be ready for this positive outcome," the official said.