Menu
Latest
Menu
Latest
News

Members of the Armenian-Azerbaijani expert strategic platform issue statement welcoming results of Washington meeting

9 August 2025

Statement

by the members of the

Armenian-Azerbaijani expert strategic platform

Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace

The members of the Armenian-Azerbaijani expert strategic platform welcome the meeting in Washington DC between Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, with the facilitation of US President Donald Trump, and the initialing of a peace agreement between the two sides, and the signing of a joint declaration by the two countries.

As was said a number of times during the meeting in Washington DC, this was a historic development, with consequences not only for Armenia and Azerbaijan, but for the South Caucasus region, and beyond.

The members of the Platform thank the president, government and people of the United States for hosting and facilitating the meeting, and all the others who over the last three years have contributed towards the dialogue between Armenia and Azerbaijan in their difficult journey towards peace. The members of the platform noted particularly the work of the European Union since 2021, and its support for track II activities in support of Armenia-Azerbaijan peace.

Many steps are now necessary to bring what was discussed and decided in Washington DC to reality. The meeting in Washington DC may in one sense have been the end of a long and difficult journey, but it is in another sense the start of another journey that Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Armenians and Azerbaijanis, must make so that peace between them is comprehensive and irreversible.

The Armenian-Azerbaijani expert strategic Platform is an ad hoc initiative of LINKS Europe, and is currently supported by the European Union’s EU4Peace III programme.

All the members of the platform were involved in the writing of the report “30 measures between now and 2030”, which outlines thirty confidence building measures that can be implemented between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and in the wider region. This report was shared with stakeholders in April 2022, and is not only still relevant, but has following the meeting in Washington DC, become even more important.

We, members of Armenian-Azerbaijani expert strategic platform, stand ready to support the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan as they pursue the path to peace, and will also continue our work to contribute to peace in the South Caucasus.

Signed:

Mehman Aliyev (Azerbaijan)

Ahmad Alili (Azerbaijan)

Stepan Grigoryan (Armenia)

Johnny Melikyan (Armenia)

Benyamin Poghosyan (Armenia)

Ramazan Samadov (Azerbaijan)


Dennis Sammut, Director LINKS Europe and Platform Chair

9 August 2025

Related articles

Editor's choice
News
Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged
Trending

Borrell tells the European Parliament that the situation in Afghanistan was critical, but the EU will remain engaged

9 June 2021
Borrell underlined that the European Union will make every effort to support the peace process and to remain a committed partner to the Afghan people. "Of course, we will have to take into account the evolving situation, but disengagement is not an option.  We are clear on that: there is no alternative to a negotiated political settlement, through inclusive peace talks.
Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a Nato country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "Nato's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.

Popular

Editor's choice
News
NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency
Trending

NATO Chief says war is on Europe's doorstep, and warns against complacency

12 December 2025
Russia could attack a Nato country within the next five years, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, said in a stark new warning. "Nato's own defences can hold for now," Rutte warned in Berlin, but conflict was "next door" to Europe and he feared "too many are quietly complacent, and too many don't feel the urgency, too many believe that time is on our side. "Russia is already escalating its covert campaign against our societies," Rutte said in a speech in Germany. "We must be prepared for the scale of war our grandparents or great-grandparents endured." Earlier this month, Russia's President Vladimir Putin said his country was not planning to go to war with Europe, but it was ready "right now" if Europe wanted to - or started a war. But similar reassurances were given by Moscow in 2022, just before 200,000 Russian troops crossed the border and invaded Ukraine. Putin has accused European countries of hindering US efforts to bring peace in Ukraine - a reference to the role Ukraine's European allies have recently played in trying to change a US peace plan to end the war, whose initial draft was seen as favouring Russia. But Putin was not sincere, Nato's secretary-general said in the German capital, Berlin. Supporting Ukraine, he added, was a guarantee for European security. "Just imagine if Putin got his way; Ukraine under the boot of Russian occupation, his forces pressing against a longer border with Nato, and the significantly increased risk of an armed attack against us." Russia's economy has been on a war footing for more than three years now - its factories churn out ever more supplies of drones, missiles and artillery shells. According to a recent report by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Russia has been producing each month around 150 tanks, 550 infantry fighting vehicles, 120 Lancet drones and more than 50 artillery pieces. The UK, and most of its Western allies, are simply not anywhere near this point. Analysts say it would take years for Western Europe's factories to come close to matching Russia's mass-production of weapons. "Allied defence spending and production must rise rapidly, our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe," the Nato chief said.