Azerbaijan and Armenia have signed a landmark peace agreement aimed at ending decades of hostility, during a summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House, BBC reported.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan shook hands after the signing, marking a rare moment of accord between the two South Caucasus neighbours. Trump described the deal as “historic,” noting: “It’s been a long time coming.”
The agreement includes provisions to reopen key transport routes between the two countries and to establish a major transit corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave, a move expected to boost regional connectivity and trade. U.S. officials said the pact would also strengthen Washington’s influence in the strategically important region, which borders Russia, Iran, and Turkey.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh – an ethnically Armenian enclave internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan – since the late 1980s. A full-scale war in the early 1990s left tens of thousands dead and displaced more than a million people. Sporadic clashes have continued over the years, including a six-week war in 2020 that ended with a Russian-brokered ceasefire.
Analysts say the White House-brokered agreement could pave the way for broader economic cooperation in the Caucasus, though both governments face domestic political challenges in implementing the deal.
–Input WAM
