French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that the agreement of peace treaty terms between Armenia and Azerbaijan should open the way for a lasting peace deal in the region. "I welcome the announcement of the conclusion of negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a series of wars since the late 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh, a region in Azerbaijan that had a mostly Armenian population at the time, broke away from Baku with Yerevan's support.

Armenian and Azerbaijani officials said on Thursday (March 13) they had agreed to the text of a peace agreement to end nearly four decades of conflict between the South Caucasus countries, a sudden breakthrough in a fitful and often bitter peace process.