Epress.am News from Armenia
After their Oct. 27 meeting, the presidents of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan made a joint statement.
“We are talking about a special Declaration aimed at strengthening confidence-building measures,” said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. According to him, with this document, an agreement was reached to exchange prisoners of war, as well as the bodies of those who died while held captive, based on humanitarian principals.
The presidents discussed the details of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process, with the aim of reaching consensus on the basic principals and continuing negotiations until the December OSCE Summit in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
“Confirming the basic principals of the joint Declaration signed on Nov. 2, 2008, in Moscow, the presidents stressed that resolving the conflict through political and diplomatic means will require further efforts in terms of confidence-building measures in the military arena and strengthening the ceasefire regime,” reads the joint statement.
The document also notes that “with this aim, the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed as a first step to immediately exchange prisoners of war and return [repatriate] the bodies [of those who died while in captivity], with the support of the OSCE Minsk Group and the Red Cross, as well as to be guided by these principles also in the future, based on the humanitarian nature of the issues.”