Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly has welcomed the joint statement of Armenia and Azerbaijan on normalizing relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Canada said in a statement.
“Canada welcomes the joint statement by Armenia and Azerbaijan reconfirming their intention to establish and deepen bilateral dialogue and announcing confidence building and goodwill measures offered by the two countries.
''Canada welcomes the release of two Azerbaijani and 32 Armenian service members and positively notes the support the countries have declared to one another in international bodies. We acknowledge this unprecedented opening in political dialogue as a step towards in the ongoing peace process between the two countries.
''We commend Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for their joint efforts towards establishing peace and stability in the region. Canada supports a negotiated political solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, based on the Helsinki principles, and encourages further concrete confidence building measures between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
''Canada encourages the continuation of dialogue between the parties and remains committed to support peace and stability in the South Caucasus,’’ reads the statement.
