Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev agreed on August 31 to take further steps towards lasting peace and normalised relations between their countries, including closer economic ties and the development of regional transport links.

The leaders met on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek and discussed implementation of commitments reached at a US-hosted summit in Washington last year, their governments said in separate statements.

“President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan agreed to continue steps to further strengthen lasting peace, advance the process of normalising interstate relations, and strengthen ties through direct bilateral contacts,” the statements said.

They highlighted the August 8, 2025 Washington summit, where the leaders signed a joint declaration witnessed by then US President Donald Trump and their foreign ministers initialled the text of a peace agreement. The agreement still requires formal signing and ratification.

The two sides have since taken steps to translate the diplomatic breakthrough into economic cooperation.

“The export of Azerbaijani oil products to Armenia, the transit of grain and other goods originating from third countries through the territory of Azerbaijan to Armenia, as well as the establishment of trade relations between the two countries were highlighted as important practical manifestations of the strengthening of peace,” the Armenian statement said.

Pashinyan and Aliyev also discussed expanding trade and energy cooperation and agreed on the importance of continuing work by their border commissions on delimiting their frontier.

They discussed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a planned connectivity project through Armenia linking Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave. The project was a key outcome of the Washington summit and is intended to open regional transport links while respecting the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries involved.

The leaders also welcomed confidence-building contacts involving lawmakers and civil society representatives.

The meeting comes after decades of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan regained control of the territory in a 2023 military operation, prompting the flight of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians to Armenia and fundamentally changing the balance in the peace negotiations. The Washington summit marked a major diplomatic breakthrough after more than three years of negotiations on a peace treaty.

The initialled agreement envisages relations based on sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of international borders. Both sides also agreed in Washington to work towards closing the OSCE Minsk Process, the long-running international mediation mechanism for the Karabakh conflict.