U.S. President Donald Trump announced that on August 8 he will host Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at what he called a “historic peace summit” at the White House. The goal, Trump said, is to end decades of hostility between the two former Soviet republics.
Pashinyan and Aliyev “will join me at the White House for the official peace signing ceremony,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“For decades, these two rival states have fought two wars over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan captured from Armenian forces in a swift 2023 offensive, displacing more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from their homes,” The Guardian report said.
Although multiple rounds of talks have been held, including last month in the United Arab Emirates, they had so far failed to achieve lasting results.
“These two countries have fought for many years, causing thousands of deaths. Many leaders tried to end the war but failed — until now. My administration has engaged with both sides for quite some time,” Trump stated, praising “these brave leaders for making the right decision.”
Trump, who has repeatedly claimed that his mediation in international conflicts merits a Nobel Peace Prize, added that Washington will also sign bilateral agreements with each country to develop economic opportunities and unlock the South Caucasus’s potential, The Guardian says.
According to Associated Press sources, the agreement grants Washington lease rights to develop a transport corridor named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” linking Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhichevan through a 32-kilometer stretch of Armenian territory.
The corridor is planned to carry a railway, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber-optic cables, enabling freight transport and later passenger travel. Construction will be funded not by the U.S. government but by private companies.
The deal follows months of talks and the visit earlier this year of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to Baku.
On August 8, Trump will hold separate meetings with Pashinyan and Aliyev before a trilateral session. He said the leaders will formally sign a peace agreement, along with other documents.
