Diplomacy

Since the initialling of the peace agreement in Washington in August 2025, Armenia and Azerbaijan have taken important steps towards peace. Meetings on border delimitation were held in Gabala in November 2025 and Aghveran in April 2026 between Armenia’s Mher Grigoryan and Azerbaijan’s Shahin Mustafayev. Civil society engagement has also advanced through the Peace Bridge initiative, launched in November 2025 with the support of both governments, which has facilitated direct and cross-border dialogue between Armenian and Azerbaijani representatives. While this remains a government-run initiative, it is important and praiseworthy. At the European Political Community Summit in Yerevan on 4 May, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev welcomed the progress made and reiterated their commitment to the peace process.  There has also been progress on TRIPP, one of the core elements of the peace agreement. TRIPP, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, is a proposed transport and connectivity route through Armenia linking Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan, intended to support regional trade, transit and normalisation while respecting Armenia’s sovereignty. Despite the crisis in the Middle East and Iran’s concerns regarding American support for the project, Armenia and the United States signed the Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation Concerning TRIPP in June 2026 to support its implementation. (Read the full briefing by clicking on the image above)