BAKU. Feb 20 (Interfax) - The president of Azerbaijan has expressed his hope that work on a peace treaty with Armenia will be finished soon.
"We are now working on a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. We hope to be able to complete this work as soon as possible. And I think this could set a good example of how countries, which had serious historical differences, can get together and turn over the page of hatred," President Ilham Aliyev told a plenary session, entitled "Moving Mountains? Building Security in the South Caucasus," as part of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
He added: "Azerbaijan and Armenia should demonstrate that a transition from a prolonged state of mutual hatred and animosity must be completed."
It was reported that at his meeting with Aliyev and United States' Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Munich earlier on Saturday Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan reaffirmed his readiness to sign a bilateral agreement with Azerbaijan to guarantee a lasting peace.
"The meeting touched on the efforts around a draft peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, to unlock the regional transport communication and carry out the delimitation between the two countries in accordance with the agreements reached in Prague," the Armenian government's press service said in a statement.
"[Prime minister] reaffirmed the Armenian determination to sign such an agreement as to guarantee a real lasting peace and stability in the region," it said.
For his part, Aliyev told reporters that the "meeting was good [and] constructive," where "many issues were discussed, including the signing of a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan."
"Of course, I reiterated my position. The main question is, this peace treaty should be drawn up on the basis of international norms and principles, no Karabakh provisions are unacceptable. On this issue, Azerbaijan also set out its position. Three days ago, we received Armenia's proposals in response to ours. We are now studying them," Aliyev said.
At first glance, Armenia made some progress in its position, but not enough, "i.e. the main thing is that this issue was discussed," he said.