The delegation headed to a resort about 50 kilometers north of Yerevan after arriving in the Armenian capital on a special flight from Baku. Mustafayev and his Armenian counterpart Mher Grigorian chaired there a joint meeting of their governments’ respective commissions on the delimitation process.
In their identical readouts of the meeting, the Armenian and Azerbaijani foreign ministries said the two sides discussed “organizational and technical issues related to border demarcation measures.” They reported further progress on procedural matters, including the approval of guidelines for “the work of demarcation expert groups.” It remained unclear which sections of the Armenian-Azerbaijani border could be delimited next and when.
An Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty initialed in Washington in August does not specify any mechanisms for the border delimitation. The Armenian government insisted previously that Soviet military maps drawn in the 1970s should be the main blueprint for delineating the long and heavily militarized frontier. Grigorian indicated in October 2024 a change in this position after it was rejected by Baku.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s government unilaterally handed over four border areas to Azerbaijan earlier in 2024, sparking massive anti-government demonstrations in Yerevan. Pashinian is regularly accused by his political foes of planning to cede more territory to Azerbaijan without receiving anything in return.
According to the official readouts, the Armenian and Azerbaijani delegations were joined by businesspeople from the two states to also discuss bilateral “trade and economic cooperation, mutual supplies of goods and services as well as cargo transit.”
Armenia has imported fuel and wheat from or through Azerbaijan since December. Pashinian has repeatedly portrayed the shipments as proof of “peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.” His critics say Baku is using them for propaganda purposes.