BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan (Azatutyun) — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev discussed further steps towards implementing a US-backed regional connectivity project and advancing peace between the two countries as they met in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Monday, August 31.
The meeting, the first between the two leaders since Pashinyan was reelected prime minister following his party’s victory in the June 7 parliamentary elections, took place on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
Pashinyan campaigned in the elections on a platform of continuing efforts to build lasting peace with Azerbaijan after more than three decades of conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh that included two deadly wars over the disputed region.
Less than two years after Azerbaijan militarily forced ethnic Armenians out of the region, Yerevan and Baku initiated an agreement on the establishment of peace and interstate relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan at a Washington peace summit on August 8, 2025.
Pashinyan and Aliyev also signed a joint declaration, witnessed by US President Donald Trump, regarding the establishment of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a land connection between mainland Azerbaijan and its western exclave of Nakhichevan via southern Armenia.
The offices of the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders issued virtually identical statements on the talks, which were also attended by senior officials from both sides.
