Development pact signed at 3-way Caucasus summit in Moscow

Meeting two months after a cease-fire was declared for the Caucasus' Nagorno-Karabakh region that ended over a month of conflict, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia signed a pact on Jan. 11 to develop economic ties and infrastructure to benefit the entire region.

Speaking in Moscow alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Premier Nikol Pashinyan, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the talks as "extremely important and useful."

"We were able to come to an agreement…on the development of the situation in the region," Putin told reporters after four hours of trilateral talks.

"I mean concrete steps to build economic ties and develop infrastructure projects. For this purpose, a working group will be created which will be headed by the vice-premiers of three governments - Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia. In the near future, they will create working expert subgroups, [and] present concrete plans for the development of transport infrastructure and the region's economy."

"I am confident that the implementation of these agreements will benefit both the Armenian and Azerbaijani people and, without any doubt, will benefit the region as a whole," he added.

The Russian leader also said the Nov. 10 agreement between the three countries ending the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict had generally been fulfilled, adding Russian military units temporarily in the region are carrying out their duties.

Transportation arteries in region

"The meeting was very important in order to ensure the further sustainable and safe development of our region," Aliyev said.

Recalling that two months have passed since the Moscow-brokered cease-fire deal between Baku and Yerevan, he emphasized the...