'Civilian EU mission' to help Armenia delineate borders with Azerbaijan

The European Union will send a "civilian EU mission" to Armenia to help delineate the borders with Azerbaijan, stakeholders have announced after a meeting in Prague.

"The aim of this mission is to build confidence and, through its reports, to contribute to the border commissions," said a joint statement early on Friday issued after talks between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Charles Michel.

The officials met on the sidelines of the first European Political Community summit at Prague Castle.

Following their meeting, Azerbaijan's Aliyev told reporters from his country that the peace process with Armenia "has now been accelerated."

Aliyev said that important issues were on the meeting's agenda, saying: "I think this meeting will be important in terms of reaching a peace agreement."

"Engagements are still ongoing. We agreed to meet again after dinner," he added.

Aliyev also said that the foreign ministers of the two countries would meet "soon."

"We suggested that the working groups of the two countries meet and work on the preparation of the peace agreement text for a few days. Such is our intention," he said.

Peace efforts amid tense ties 

These remarks follow previous contacts for the initiation of the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, with Aliyev and Pashinyan having met EU Council head Michel four times before in Brussels.

Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan.

Baku liberated several cities, villages, and settlements from Armenian occupation during 44-day clashes in the 2020 fall, which ended after a Moscow-brokered truce.

The peace agreement is celebrated as a triumph in Azerbaijan.