On March 1, Ramin Mammadov, the Azerbaijani MP responsible for maintaining contact with Armenian residents residing in the Karabakh region, met with their representatives at the headquarters of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Khojaly city.

Specialists of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources, the State Service for Real Estate Affairs under the Ministry of Economy and "AzerGold" Closed Joint Stock Company, the head of the monitoring group investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources, Masim Mammadov, also participated in the meeting.

According to him, preliminary discussions on the reintegration of Armenian residents living in the Karabakh region were held at the meeting. MP Ramin Mammadov said that contact with Armenian residents would be continued.

Lusine Avanesyan, the de-facto Press Secretary of the separatist President of Nagorno-Karabakh, confirmed that a meeting of the representatives of Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan took place with the mediation and participation of the Russian peacekeeping forces. According to her, humanitarian and infrastructural issues, in particular, the restoration of the unhindered passage of vehicles through the Lachin corridor, the restoration of the electricity line supplying Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia, the uninterrupted supply of natural gas, as well as the exploitation of the Kashan field, were discussed. 

"There were no other matters on the agenda. The meeting was apparently constructive, and we hope the results will not be long in coming," the Press Secretary said.

Moreover, Toivo Klaar, the representative of the European Union on the Crisis in the South Caucasus and Georgia, called the meeting between the representatives of the Azerbaijani government and Karabakh Armenians promising. "Today, encouraging news came from Khojaly about the contacts between representatives of Baku and Karabakh Armenians. It is good that the discussions focus on both the current and broader issues," he said.

On the same day, de-facto Nagorno-Karabakh President Arayik Harutyunyan chaired a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers. 

In his speech, President Harutyunyan noted that the State Minister would have broad powers, all ministries would operate under his coordination, except for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, and Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he would have the freedom to develop and conduct personnel policy within the scope of his jurisdiction.

Touching upon the situation developed as a result of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh by Azerbaijan, the separatist President Harutyunyan noted that although the people of [the separatist] Nagorno-Karabakh have been suffering enormous social and economic losses during the last 80 days and experiencing emotional distress, they show strong will and determination to overcome them day by day tirelessly. "Once again, I want to emphasize that regardless of the difficulties and various pressures, we will remain loyal to the ideas of the Nagorno-Karabakh Movement, and there will be no step back from the path of independence. I want to declare with all responsibility that any integration process with Azerbaijan is excluded. However, this does not mean that we will avoid contacts to solve problems of an infrastructural and humanitarian nature. And for the negotiations on the conflict settlement, as I stated in my message of February 23, it is necessary to ensure certain conditions and an international format," he said.