The head of the European Union’s executive body emphasized the geopolitical significance of such a development as she spoke during the first-ever EU-Central Asia Summit held in Uzbekistan.
“In an increasingly fragmented world, the Transcaspian Transport Corridor [promoted by the EU] will boost connections between your five countries and Europe,” von der Leyen told the authoritarian presidents of the ex-Soviet Central Asian republics.
“But infrastructure is not everything,” she said. “Smooth border crossing with Central Asian and South Caucasus countries is also essential to reach the Black Sea. After three decades of closure, the opening of the borders of Armenia with Turkey and Azerbaijan is going to be a game changer and it will bring Europe and Central Asia closer together like never before.”
In a June 2024 interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, then U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James O’Brien similarly said that a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan would not only end their long-running conflict but also reduce Russian influence in the region and facilitate a new trade route from Central Asia to Turkey. O’Brien spoke of a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a trade route from Central Asia across to the Mediterranean.” It is not clear whether the current U.S. administration also pursues this ambitious goal.
Both the EU and the United States urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to promptly sign the bilateral treaty the day after it was finalized by the two South Caucasus nations on March 13.
Speaking at an energy forum in Baku on Friday, Eric Jacobs, a senior adviser of the State Bureau of Energy Resources of the U.S. Department of State, said the peace deal would usher in “a new era of security and prosperity" for the South Caucasus.” He said U.S. President Donald Trump is looking forward to its signing.
Baku has set a number of conditions for that, notably a change of Armenia’s constitution which it says contains territorial claims to Azerbaijan. It also continues to demand an extraterritorial corridor that would connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhichevan exclave through a key Armenian region. The demand rejected by Yerevan is strongly backed by Ankara.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said the so-called “Zangezur corridor” is important also because it would link Turkey to Azerbaijan and the Turkic states of Central Asia.