Armenia, Azerbaijan, US release joint statement on anniversary of Washington s

Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the US have released a joint statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Washington summit, which brought together Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and US President Donald Trump. The summit resulted in the long-awaited initialling, but not the signing, of a peace treaty. The anniversary statement, released on Monday, highlighted the progress made since the summit towards closing the chapter on more than three decades of armed conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

‘On this first anniversary, there is deep pride in what our countries have achieved together and great resolve to build upon the foundation that ended decades of conflict and put the South Caucasus on a path towards a more prosperous future’, the introductory remarks read. The statement also highlighted that Aliyev and Pashinyan had jointly nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The statement then went on to describe the joint declaration, signed at the summit, as ‘a concrete roadmap for Armenia and Azerbaijan, with the support of the United States, to strengthen peace, achieve prosperity, and deepen partnership’.

Following this, the statement highlighted eight different benchmarks of success towards achieving peace that occurred since the summit:

• ‘Stability’ has been maintained along the Armenia–Azerbaijan border, and ‘and the two sides are taking concrete steps to normalise relations, delimit borders, and build confidence through measures essential to lasting stability’.
• The Trump Route (also known as TRIPP), connecting Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory, ‘is moving from vision to reality’. The statement noted ‘Engineering surveys in Armenia are already underway’ and that ‘Azerbaijan has nearly completed in its territory a highway and railroad to connect to TRIPP in Armenia’.
• Connected to the Trump Route, the US has allocated $201 million to the Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund, which will provide financing to the route.
• The US has ‘deepened’ its respective bilateral relations with Armenia and Azerbaijan.
• Azerbaijan lifted all trade restrictions with Armenia, and since then, ‘close to 60,000 tonnes of goods have been transported to and from Armenia through Azerbaijan’ and ‘Azerbaijan also supplied 20,000 tonnes of oil products’ to Armenia.
• Telecommunications operators in Armenia and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement to ‘diversify regional connectivity routes, enhance reliability and resilience in the South Caucasus, and support infrastructure development in Eurasian telecom networks’.
• The OSCE Minsk Group, long the primary mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan, has been dissolved.
• Armenia and Azerbaijan have joined Trump’s Board of Peace.

‘The United States, Armenia, and Azerbaijan reaffirm their unwavering support for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of both Armenia and Azerbaijan within their internationally recognised borders’, the statement read.

The statement concluded by noting that, ‘True peace is never achieved in just one day, but as President Trump says — Promises Made, Promises Kept.  Azerbaijan and Armenia’s steps toward a lasting peace are a model for the world — and we look forward to the region’s bright and prosperous future’.