The federal government is calling for the release of Armenian detainees and prisoners of war in Azerbaijan as it praised the road to peace paved by a White House-brokered meeting last week between the two countries locked in decades of conflict.

"By initialling the peace agreement and both acknowledging Armenia and Azerbaijan sovereignty and territorial integrity, these countries have taken important steps toward a just and durable peace for the people of this region," said Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in a statement posted on social media Sunday night.

However, she also noted lingering issues, including "the release of all Armenian detainees and prisoners of war, the safe and dignified right of return of Armenian civilians and the preservation of cultural heritage."

Anand also

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