GABALA, Azerbaijan, April 11. Peace Bridge Initiative creates a new format in Azerbaijani-Armenian relations, the initiative coordinator, Director of the Center for Studies of the South Caucasus, Farhad Mammadov, said at a press conference on the results of the meeting of civil society representatives of the two countries, Trend reports.
He noted that the civil society representative first visited Armenia and then Azerbaijan. The symbolic significance of this visit at this stage is that the transition was made through the delimited and demarcated section, via the land border.
According to him, all border-crossing procedures were carried out here.
"At the same time, since the borders of Armenia are open, special procedures weren't applied. However, since the land borders of Azerbaijan are closed, all necessary state procedures were carried out.
The peace agenda was approved at the Washington summit, and within this framework, there is a high-level interstate dialogue. This dialogue includes both leaders and state structures. Economic relations are also being formed; this includes the implementation of transit and direct trade relations. In addition, dialogue at the civil society level already exists and is being continued.
The main difference between the Peace Bridge Initiative and other formats is that in previous years, such dialogue platforms were mainly implemented in a tripartite format - with the participation of intermediary or donor organizations. Currently, the process is being carried out with state support, and representatives of civil society also directly participate in this process.
Four discussion sessions were organized within the framework of today's meeting. The first two sessions were more political in nature and discussed the impact of the geopolitical situation, the current situation in the region on the peace process, as well as the opportunities it creates. The third and fourth sessions were directly devoted to the role of civil society and future directions of activity.
Within the framework of the meeting, meetings with state officials, which have already become a tradition, were also held. In this context, a meeting was held with Hikmet Hajiyev, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan. During the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, numerous questions of Armenian representatives were answered in detail," Mammadov noted.
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