ISLAMABAD(National Times)- Pakistan on Saturday welcomed the historic peace agreement signed between the Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House Summit under the auspices of US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif shared a statement on social media platform X, stating: “This landmark development marks the dawn of a new era of peace, stability, and cooperation in the South Caucasus, a region that has endured decades of conflict and human suffering”. “We congratulate President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan on this historic agreement, that reflects wisdom, foresight and sagacity in charting a course for a peaceful future for their region,” read the statement. Pakistan has always stood by the brotherly nation of Azerbaijan and we stand with them at this proud moment of their history, he said. “We also appreciate the facilitation role of the United States, under President Donald Trump, in bringing the two sides together and securing an agreement that opens new avenues for trade, connectivity, and regional integration. It is our hope that this spirit of dialogue will serve as an example for other regions facing protracted conflicts,” the premier said.

Trump announces peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a US-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalization of their relations. The deal between the South Caucasus rivals – assuming it holds – would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence. “It’s a long time – 35 years – they fought and now they’re friends, and they’re going to be friends for a long time,” Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other’s territorial integrity. The agreement includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources. Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Details were not released. He said restrictions had also been lifted on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States, a development that could also worry Moscow. Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India. However, he has not managed to end Russia’s 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine or Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Trump on Friday said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to work on ending the war.