Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign deal that could undermine Russia’s influence – Reuters
Photo: Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev (Getty Images)
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will sign a peace agreement in Washington on August 8. The deal will grant the United States exclusive rights to develop a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus, Reuters reports.
According to the report, Pashinyan and Aliyev are expected to sign a framework agreement at the White House aimed at establishing a "concrete pathway to peace."
One section of the agreement, according to Reuters, will address a transport corridor through Armenia intended to connect the Azerbaijani enclave of Nakhchivan with the rest of Azerbaijan. Armenia is expected to agree to grant the US exclusive special rights to develop the corridor, which will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
The route will be operated under Armenian law, while the US will sublease the land to a consortium for infrastructure construction and management.
In addition, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will sign documents requesting the dissolution of the Minsk Group, which has been co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States since its establishment in 1999 to mediate the conflict.
According to US officials, the agreement between Baku and Yerevan could also pave the way for Azerbaijan to join the Abraham Accords, a set of agreements brokered by Trump during his first term that normalized relations between Israel and several Muslim-majority countries.
Peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan
Earlier, the media reported that on Friday, August 8, US President Donald Trump would host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House, aiming to mediate a peace agreement between the two countries.
Armenia later confirmed the meeting.
The previous meeting between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan took place last month in the United Arab Emirates.
The talks were intended to advance a peaceful resolution, but no concrete decisions were announced afterward. This came despite earlier statements from both sides at the beginning of the year about progress in preparing a preliminary peace deal.
In June, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan expressed hope that a treaty with Azerbaijan could be signed by the end of 2025. According to him, achieving peace remains one of Yerevan’s key foreign policy priorities.
The conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has been ongoing for several decades, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Nagorno-Karabakh effectively slipped out of Baku’s control and came under Yerevan’s influence.
In September 2023, Azerbaijani forces took full control of the region. Until that point, the population of Karabakh was predominantly Armenian, which led to an exodus of ethnic Armenians from the area.
