YEREVAN, December 8. /TASS/. Armenia thinks that a peace treaty with Azerbaijan could be coming soon with a joint statement by the offices of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev setting the stage for this, Sargis Khandanyan, Head of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Relations, said.

"We have always thought signing a peace treaty is possible because we have a constructive attitude but the document should be fit for Armenia to sign and for Azerbaijan to agree to," he noted, pointing out that the statement may have a positive impact on facilitating a smoother negotiation process.

The legislator also touched on the issue of potential talks between the top diplomats of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington, noting that Yerevan had agreed to such a meeting and expressed hope that their American partners "will exert enough efforts and pressure on Baku to continue the negotiations in the US." "As for the potential meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow, there haven’t been any clear proposals to hold the talks there but it is very important to ensure their continuity. A certain logic has shaped that meetings at the level of foreign ministers are being held in Washington, and those at the level of the heads of state - in Brussels, it would be very nice for this logic to continue," he added.

Khandanyan also expressed hope that the Azerbaijani authorities’ decision to hold a snap presidential election "won’t become an artificial pretext to prolong the negotiations."

On Thursday night, the office of the prime minister of the Republic of Armenia and the administration of the president of the Republic of Azerbaijan issued a joint statement saying that Yerevan and Baku confirm their intention to settle relations and conclude a peace treaty based on respect for the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. As a good-will gesture, Azerbaijan released 32 Armenian servicemen and Armenia let two Azerbaijani soldiers go.