Azerbaijan lifts curbs on cargo transit to Armenia in sign of growing peace

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FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds the hands of Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as they shake hands between each other during a trilateral signing event, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., August 8, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

BAKU - Azerbaijan has removed all restrictions on cargo transit to Armenia, President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday, in a sign of warming ties between the former foes following nearly four decades of conflict.

Aliyev told Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev at a meeting in Astana that a shipment of Kazakh grain via Azerbaijan to Armenia marked the first such consignment since transit was halted in the final years of the Soviet Union, when war initially broke out between the two neighbours.

I think this is also a good indicator that peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is no longer on paper, but in practice, Aliyev was quoted by Azerbaijani state media as saying.

Hikmet Hajiyev, Aliyevs foreign policy aide, told Reuters that the cargo shipments would travel to Armenia via Georgia, calling the transit an economic benefit of peace.

A spokeswoman for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hailed Aliyevs move as a step of great importance for opening regional communications, strengthening mutual trust, and institutionalising the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in bitter conflict from the late 1980s over Nagorno-Karabakh, a