YEREVAN, December 14. /TASS/. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said a peace treaty with Azerbaijan could be signed soon if Baku reaffirms the principles coordinated between the leaders of the two South Caucasus countries.

"If Azerbaijan reaffirms the given principles, a peace agreement could be signed soon," Pashinyan said, addressing the opening ceremony for a ministerial meeting of landlocked countries.

The Armenian premier also mentioned Yerevan’s three key principles, namely the reopening of regional transport links while upholding the national sovereignty of the countries involved; public recognition of the territorial integrity of Armenia and Azerbaijan on land areas of 29,800 square km and 86,600 square km, respectively; and the delimitation of the border based on the final maps of the area published before the demise of the Soviet Union.

"Yesterday’s exchange of POWs makes us optimistic that [a] peace [agreement] could be signed soon," Pashinyan added.

On Wednesday, Armenia’s head of government wrote on his page on Facebook (banned in Russia due to its ownership by an officially designated extremist organization, US corporation Meta) that Baku had handed over 32 Armenian prisoners of war to Yerevan based on a joint agreement between his government and the administration of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.