Islamabad/Washington:
Pakistan hosted on Saturday a negotiated peace agreement in the United States between Armenia and Azerbaijan aimed at finishing decades of conflict in the Southern Caucasus.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced the agreement in the White House on Friday, saying that the two countries had committed to “stop fighting forever, open trade, trips and diplomatic relations and respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of others.”
Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the “historical moment” reflected the “wisdom and sagacity” of Azerbaijan leadership to resolve the long data dispute. Islamabad also praised Trump’s role in “promoting conflict resolution and promoting peace in several regions of the world.”
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the agreement marked “the dawn of a new era of peace, stability and cooperation in the South Caucasus” and congratulated the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev and the Azerbaijan people. He also praised Washington’s “facilitation role” in ensuring an agreement that could open “new ways for trade, connectivity and regional integration.”
Trump stopped with Aliyev and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan when the two leaders signed a “joint statement” that promised to end hostilities and normalize ties. The agreement includes the creation of a transit corridor through Armenia that links Azerbaijan with his Nakhchivan. The United States will have development rights for the route, which the White House has called the “Trump route for international peace and prosperity.”
Aliyev described the “historical” firm and said that he and Pashinyan would jointly nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Pashinyan described the agreement as an “advance” that “would open a new era” for the region, accrediting Trump as the “peacemaker” behind her.
The agreement follows decades of hostility between Armenia of a Christian majority and Azerbaijan of a Muslim majority, who fought against two wars on the disputed Karabakh region. Azerbaijan recovered the territory in an offensive of 2023, which caused more than 100,000 ethnic armenians to flee to Armenia.
The regional and international powers welcomed the agreement. Türkiye praised “progress towards a lasting peace”, the European Union called him a path to “sustainable peace” in the Caucasus, and Great Britain praised the “bold steps” taken in Washington.
Iran, who for a long time has opposed the Nakhchivan corridor for concerns that he could limit his access to the Caucasus, also welcomed the agreement approval, but warned against “negative consequences of foreign intervention” near its borders.
Although the text of the agreement was ended in March, the firm was delayed by Baku’s demands that Armenia amends its constitution to eliminate territorial claims over Karabakh. Pashinyan has promised a referendum in 2027 on constitutional changes, a movement that remains politically controversial in Armenia.
A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Armenian’s gain of the agreement was “a huge strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America,” and added that “the losers here are China, Russia and Iran.”
