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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