Trump highlights peace in South Caucasus region together with Aliyev, Pashinyan

US President Donald Trump on Saturday highlighted an ongoing peace in the South Caucasus region, together with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, during separate phone calls held in the day.

According to a statement by Pashinyan’s office on his phone call with Trump, the Armenian prime minister thanked the US president for organizing a peace summit in Washington, DC on Aug. 8, 2025, as well as for signing a joint declaration adopted during the event as a witness, highlighting the “decisive” role of Trump’s personal efforts in establishing peace.

“The interlocutors noted with satisfaction that the Washington Peace Summit has led to real peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is seen and felt by the peoples of both countries,” the statement said.

It further said that Pashinyan and Trump further discussed the current status of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project.

“Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Trump reaffirmed their determination to begin construction of TRIPP in the near future,” the statement went on to say, adding other issues on the bilateral and international agenda were also discussed.

The call comes exactly a year after Aliyev and Pashinyan initialed an agreement and, along with Trump, signed a joint declaration at a summit in the White House, aiming to end decades of conflict, with commitments to cease hostilities, reopen transport routes, and normalize relations.

The two South Caucasus neighbors had fought in two major wars in the Karabakh region within Azerbaijan since the late 1980s.

Trump later held a phone call with Aliyev, during which both expressed satisfaction on the occasion of the summit in Washington and emphasized that the initialing of the summit, as well as the signing of the joint declaration, “brought an end to the conflict in the region and consolidated peace,” according to a corresponding statement by Azerbaijan’s presidency.

The statement said Aliyev thanked his US counterpart for hosting the summit and his contribution to the peace agenda between Baku and Yerevan.

“Donald Trump highly appreciated the role of President Ilham Aliyev in the peace process,” the statement said, further noting that both sides expressed satisfaction that “peace and stability had been maintained in the region over the past year and that there had been no incidents that could undermine peace in the region.”

It also said that both presidents noted the export of Azerbaijani oil products to Armenia, the transit of cargo through Azerbaijan to Armenia, and the launch of trade relations between the two countries as “positive developments.”

“During the phone conversation, the importance of the TRIPP project in terms of regional connectivity was emphasized, and it was noted that work on transport infrastructure in Azerbaijan was nearing completion,” it also said.

The statement went on to state that Aliyev and Trump expressed hope that the TRIPP project in Armenia would break ground soon.

According to the statement, the two presidents also discussed issues on the bilateral agenda, indicating that the signing of the charter on strategic partnership between Baku and Washington in February was described as a “historic” event.

“They emphasized that Azerbaijan-US relations had reached a qualitatively new and higher level and acquired a strategic character, contributing to peace and stability across the broader region,” it said.

It added that Aliyev thanked Trump for his invitation to the upcoming G20 leaders’ summit in Miami, Florida on Dec. 14-15, describing it as “a manifestation of the friendly attitude toward Azerbaijan.”