U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday hosted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House, where the two leaders signed a landmark joint declaration formally ending decades of bitter conflict. The agreement marks the most significant diplomatic breakthrough between the two South Caucasus nations since the late 1980s.
The trilateral signing ceremony, held in the State Dining Room, capped a day of talks in Washington and was accompanied by separate bilateral economic agreements between the United States and each country. The accords aim to boost trade, transit, energy, infrastructure, and technology cooperation, with officials saying they could open new commercial opportunities for American companies in the strategically important region.
“For more than 35 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a bitter conflict that resulted in tremendous suffering for both nations… Many tried to find a resolution… and they were unsuccessful. With this Accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace,” Trump said.
Aliyev called the signing “a day which will be remembered by the people of Azerbaijan with a feeling of pride and gratitude to President Trump,” adding:
“Within several months, he managed to put an end to conflicts in Asia, in Africa, and now in South Caucasus — what we could not achieve for more than 30 years… We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation, and bloodshed, and provide a bright and safe future for our children.”
Pashinyan hailed the breakthrough as a “significant milestone” in relations between the two countries.
“We are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past. This breakthrough would simply not have been possible without President Trump’s personal engagement and his resolute commitment to peace,” he said.
The White House described the agreement as part of a broader push by Trump to resolve long-running international disputes. During his presidency, Trump has claimed to have brokered peace deals involving Cambodia and Thailand, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, and Serbia and Kosovo, as well as the Abraham Accords between Israel and several Arab states.
Friday’s accord follows years of intermittent fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, most notably over the contested Nagorno-Karabakh region. While recent conflicts had diminished in intensity, deep mistrust and unresolved territorial disputes had long stymied any lasting settlement.
With this signing, Trump declared, “nations across the globe can move beyond longstanding conflicts of the past toward a shared future of peace, prosperity, and success.”
