Overview

• President Trump will host Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday to sign a U.S.-brokered peace declaration aimed at ending nearly four decades of conflict.
• Armenia and Azerbaijan will each sign bilateral agreements with the United States to unlock potential in energy, technology and broader South Caucasus economic markets.
• The accord grants the United States a 99-year lease and exclusive development rights for the 43.5-kilometer Zangezur transit corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave.
• Azerbaijan’s insistence on Armenian constitutional amendments to remove references to Nagorno-Karabakh and exit the OSCE Minsk Group has prompted protests in Yerevan.
• The deal underscores Russia’s waning influence in the South Caucasus as Turkey supports the U.S. corridor plan and Iran opposes American control of the route.