By Ekaterina Venikna
NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington in some ways mimicked the very first gathering of the Atlantic Alliance back in 1949, especially in the way Western leaders fixated on checking Russian aggression. But along the sidelines, a lot occurred with strategic implications for the South Caucasus.
On the summit’s second day, the United States tried to reinvigorate the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken facilitated discussions between Armenian and Azerbaijani negotiators.
Earlier in 2024, Armenian leaders agreed to a transfer of disputed territory to Azerbaijan and said a lasting peace agreement appeared at hand. Since then, however, negotiations have appeared to stall. Blinken urged the parties to settle remaining differences, emphasizing “the importance of peace in promoting regional connectivity [i.e. trade], which would benefit the entire South Caucasus region.”
US diplomats see the lack of a peace deal as an impediment to fulfilling the potential of the East-West corridor, which is designed to expand European Union trade with the Caucasus and Central Asia. A peace deal, Washington also holds, would reduce the ability of Russia to meddle in regional political affairs. A durable peace agreement “will both improve security cooperation with regard to neighbors who might have some adverse interests [and] enable the movement of goods from Central Asia through Azerbaijan and then out through both Georgia and Armenia to global markets,” Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O’Brien said during a visit to Baku in June.
Blinken indicated that the two sides appeared close to finalizing a deal that the United States could “strongly, strongly support.” His Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, echoed that sentiment: “Armenia has [the] political will to finalize and conclude the peace treaty with Azerbaijan in [the] soonest [possible] timeframe.”
