Pashinyan: Armenia-Azerbaijan business ties ‘key to peace’

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that future business ties with Azerbaijan could play a decisive role in turning fragile stability into lasting peace between the two countries.

Pashinyan made the statement while presenting the provision of the ruling Civil Contract party’s election program for 2026 on institutionalizing peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, News.Az reports, citing AZERTAC.

“The institutionalization of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan began in 2024 with the delimitation and demarcation of the state border in the Tavush region of the Republic of Armenia, followed by the signing and ratification of the regulation on the joint activities of the delimitation commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and continued in 2025 with the initialing of the Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as the Washington Declaration on the principles of peace and the unblocking of transport infrastructure,” Pashinyan said, reading from the party program.

Commenting on this provision, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that the ruling party is recording that the institutionalization of peace has in fact already begun.

“I also want to remind that it has a de jure binding legal basis. I am referring to the regulation on the joint activities of the State Border Delimitation Commissions of Armenia and Azerbaijan, which were signed by the deputy prime ministers of the two countries, then underwent ratification procedures in both states, becoming an integral part of the legal systems of both countries. And it is stipulated in those regulations that Armenia and Azerbaijan accept that the basic principle for the delimitation process between the two countries is the Alma-Ata Declaration, which in turn means that the territory of independent Armenia is identical to the territory of Soviet Armenia, and the territory of independent Azerbaijan is identical to the territory of Soviet Azerbaijan,” the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also presented the priority steps that must be taken for the further institutionalization of peace.

“The priority steps for the further institutionalization of peace are the continuation of the delimitation process; the implementation of the TRIPP project in line with the content of the Washington Declaration of August 8, 2025, and the TRIPP Implementation Framework adopted by the Governments of Armenia and the United States on January 14, 2026, which will lead to the full unblocking of regional transport links; as well as the final signing and ratification of the initialed Agreement on the Establishment of Peace and Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the subsequent implementation of the steps envisioned therein,” the Armenian Prime Minister said.

According to him, the listed steps for institutionalizing peace are not limited to those mentioned. Contacts between civil society and business community representatives, bilateral trade, and political, cultural, and humanitarian dialogue are important tools for institutionalizing peace, and the Civil Contract party will encourage and support the activation of these areas in the context of Armenia–Azerbaijan relations.

“I am pleased to note that some initiatives are already becoming a reality: bilateral trade between Armenia and Azerbaijan is developing in small steps, contacts between civil society representatives are already taking a concrete shape, and I hope and am convinced that business ties will also be established in the near future, which is one of the key means and tools for institutionalizing peace,” Pashinyan said.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada