On 31 March, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with Polish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau.

"I hope this meeting will be fruitful. Because there have already been several meetings and we must move towards peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, sign a peace agreement as soon as possible. In our view, Azerbaijan has presented the main principles of this agreement," Rau stated.

"Azerbaijan did it itself, and now is the time to normalise relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We receive certain messages from Armenian officials. As I was recently informed, one of these messages is that they consider our proposal acceptable. This is very good news and I hope that this issue will be clarified at the meeting in Brussels," Aliyev flagged.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Zbigniew Rau, expressed hope that relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia would return to normal, noting that the current stage leading to a settlement seems very optimistic. Aliyev said that the five principles presented by Azerbaijan reflect the norms of international law and good international behaviour.

According to the European Union diplomatic service, President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan discussed preparations for the meeting to be held on April 6 in Brussels.

The meeting between the Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan and the Aide to the President of Azerbaijan Hikmet Hajiyev was organised by the EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

"During the substantive discussions between Mr. Hajiyev and Mr. Grigoryan, which included a separate bilateral meeting, the participants reviewed the political and security situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan and a range of issues as a continuation of the agreements reached during the leaders' meeting. In addition to the issues raised at the meeting of leaders of the two countries in Brussels on December 14, 2021, they agreed to meet again to continue discussions. Armenia and Azerbaijan will also resolve issues related to the prospects of the peace agreement. The European Union is committed to continuing its work for lasting peace and stability in the South Caucasus," message by EU underlined.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hopes to discuss and agree on all issues related to the start of the peace talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the upcoming meeting in Brussels.

At a government meeting on March 31, Nikol Pashinyan noted that Armenia offers concrete and logical solutions to the issues of demarcation and delimitation, opening of regional communications, prevention of military escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh.

"There is no reason to accuse us of abandoning or violating the agreements. I reiterate that Armenia is ready to sign a peace agreement with Azerbaijan. Armenia is ready to start peace talks immediately. A meeting is planned in Brussels on April 6 with the participation of me, as well as the President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. I look forward to discussing and agreeing on all issues related to the start of peace talks with the President of Azerbaijan," Pashinyan stated.

Pashinyan flagged that Armenia accepts Baku's proposal on a five-point peace agreement but considers it important for Karabakh Armenians to include issues related to security guarantees.

Earlier, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov stated that Azerbaijan sent a document consisting of 5 articles to Armenia on the normalisation of relations. Baku's proposals include mutual recognition of sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of international borders, mutual confirmation of the absence of territorial claims and their non-proliferation in the future, the parties undertake to refrain from threats to security, use of force against independence and territorial integrity, delimitation and demarcation of state borders, establishment of diplomatic relations, opening of transport and communications, and cooperation in other fields.

"Withdrawal of the Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army means the withdrawal of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh. This is a demand formed by Azerbaijan. It also justifies Azerbaijan's policy of liberating Nagorno-Karabakh from all Armenians, including millennial churches, crusaders, and inscriptions. What happened in Parukh (Farrukh) proves that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh must be protected, otherwise they will become victims of genocide," Pashinyan said referring to the recent incident in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The head of the US mission to the OSCE, Michael Carpenter, welcomed the news that talks between Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev which will take place in Brussels on April 6. "We call for more attention to the humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and reiterate our support for a diplomatic solution to all unresolved issues," he said on Twitter.