On Friday 8 December, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, welcomed the measures announced the day before by Armenia and Azerbaijan to put an end to the tensions between the two countries, which have been running high since Baku recaptured the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh last September after three decades of conflict.
“[We] welcome in particular release of detainees and unprecedented opening in political dialogue. Establishing and deepening bilateral dialogue between sides has been a key objective of the EU-led Brussels process. (...) I now encourage the leaders to finalise the peace deal as soon as possible”, commented Mr Michel on X (formerly Twitter).
On Thursday 7 December, Baku and Yerevan pledged to take “concrete confidence-building measures” and to continue discussing these measures, “which will be taken in the near future”. The two Caucasus countries also called for “support from the international community”.
As a first step, Armenia has announced that it has withdrawn its bid to host the next COP29, which will take place in 2024, and is supporting that of its neighbour Azerbaijan. The two countries also agreed on the release of 32 Armenian prisoners of war and two Azerbaijani soldiers. (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)