Armenia and Turkey agreed to nominate representatives to set up formal relations and Turkey’s civil aviation authority said two airlines would begin flights between Yerevan and Istanbul next month.

Sargsyan had been at odds with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, particularly on some of the issues in moving towards peace since last year’s 44-day “Second Karabakh War” in which Azerbaijan made big advances.

Lenders reported a rise in total net profit of 7.2 percent year-on-year of 609 million manats ($358 million) in 2021.

SOFAZ sovereign wealth oil fund holds proceeds from oil contracts, oil and gas sales, transit fees and other revenue.

Gas exports from Shah Deniz amounted to 17.618 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year, 43.6 percent up from a year earlier.

Oil and gas condensate production rose by 0.1 percent last year from a year earlier to 34.581 million tonnes, while natural gas output increased 18.1 percent to 43.864 bcm.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan appeared to make some progress in two remarkably productive face-to-face meetings in quick succession late last year, though periodic outbreaks of violence hang over prospects for further discussions.

The World Bank forecasts that economic growth in Europe and Central Asia will slow to 3 percent in 2022, as domestic demand stabilises, and 2.9 percent in 2023, as external demand plateaus and commodity prices soften.