At the start of the negotiations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the foreign ministers of Armenia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan delivered welcoming remarks, informs the Armenian foreign ministry.

Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan noted as follows:

"I join the words of thanks addressed to the Kazakh side for initiating and organizing this meeting. We in Armenia highly appreciate Kazakhstan's desire to assist its two friendly countries to reach an agreement and to establish lasting peace in the South Caucasus. I would also like to extend special thanks to the President of Kazakhstan, as well as to you, [Kazakh deputy PM and FM] Murat Abugalievich [Nurtlau], for your efforts.

Indeed, it is very symbolic that we are meeting today in this beautiful city, Almaty; moreover, in the same building, the House of Friendship, where the Declaration of Alma-Ata was signed in 1991. Let me remind that this is the document that was already signed by the eleven republics of the already former USSR, recognizing the former administrative borders of the USSR as interstate borders. It is important that during the last two years, both the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan have several times reaffirmed, at various formats, their commitment to the Alma-Ata Declaration, they also have reaffirmed the mutual recognition of territorial integrity based on the Alma-Ata Declaration, and they also have reaffirmed that the border delimitation process shall be carried out on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration itself. Basically, it means that the borders that existed at the time of the collapse of the USSR should be reproduced in the border delimitation process.

Once again, I would like to emphasize that Armenia strives for peace, international treaty agreement. We are very constructively engaged in the peace process, and moreover, we believe that we should not limit ourselves to signing a peace treaty; we must, we can move ahead to unblock the transportation channels in the region. To do this, of course, with the understanding that all channels will be under the sovereignty of the countries, will operate under the jurisdiction of the countries through whose territory they will pass, and all procedures—administrative, customs—for crossing the state border will be agreed upon in accordance with the principle of reciprocity.”