US, Armenia, Azerbaijan hail progress toward lasting peace

WASHINGTON

The United States, Armenia and Azerbaijan have marked the first anniversary of their 2025 White House summit by highlighting border stability, growing trade and progress on a new regional transit route.

In a joint statement issued on Aug. 10, the three countries described the Aug. 8, 2025, meeting hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump as having “ended decades of conflict” and placed the South Caucasus “on a path towards a more prosperous future.”

“True peace is never achieved in just one day,” the statement said.

“Azerbaijan and Armenia’s steps toward a lasting peace are a model for the world.”

The countries said Yerevan and Baku had maintained stability along their border and taken steps to normalize relations, delimit the frontier and build confidence. They also reaffirmed support for both countries’ sovereignty and territorial integrity within their internationally recognized borders.

The statement cited progress on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a planned multimodal route across Armenian territory. The project is intended to link mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and connect with wider Trans-Caspian trade networks while remaining under Armenian sovereignty and jurisdiction.

The three governments also backed the construction of an electricity transmission line along the route.

The statement said Washington had allocated $201 million to the Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund to support private-sector investment in the Middle Corridor linking Central Asia and the South Caucasus.

Following Baku’s removal of transit restrictions, 60,000 tons of goods were transported to and from Armenia through Azerbaijan over the past year, while Azerbaijan supplied Armenia with 20,000 tons of petroleum products, according to the statement.

At the 2025 summit, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a joint declaration, while their foreign ministers initialed the text of a peace agreement. The declaration called for further steps toward the agreement’s formal signature and ratification.