Today, relations between the United States and Azerbaijan are entering absolutely new phase, President Ilham Aliyev said during his press statement with US Vice President James David Vance, Trend reports.

Statement by President Ilham Aliyev

- Dear Mr. Vice President,

Dear guests,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It's a big honor for us to welcome Mr. Vice President on an official visit to Azerbaijan. We had a very good conversation today, covering many issues of our bilateral agenda. We are very grateful to the Trump-Vance administration for its very positive attitude toward Azerbaijan. Today's ceremonial signing of the Charter on Strategic Partnership is a reflection of the very hard work that our teams conducted for six months. Six months ago, a historical meeting in Washington with President Trump and the signing of a document to establish the working group to elaborate the Charter on Strategic Partnership opened new opportunities for bilateral cooperation.

For us, it's a great honor to be a strategic partner of the most powerful country in the world, the United States of America. We're also very grateful to President Trump, Vice President Vance, and their team for their contribution to peace in the Caucasus. Last August, Armenia and Azerbaijan, at the White House and in the presence of President Trump, initialed a peace agreement, and we also signed a Joint Declaration on Peace, which President Trump signed as a witness. And over these six months, we have already lived in peace. We are learning to live in peace.

We're very grateful to the United States Government for this great contribution. Not only have we lifted all the restrictions on the transit of cargo through Azerbaijan to Armenia, but we have also started to supply oil products to Armenia, thus actually beginning trade and cooperation. One of the important results of the Trump-Vance administration's efforts in our region is the implementation of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity—TRIPP, which will not only connect the two parts of Azerbaijan, but also will be a very reliable, safe, and large-scale transportation corridor that will connect Asia with Europe through the territory of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and other neighbors, thus strengthening what has been achieved on the peace track in the region. Today, relations between the United States and Azerbaijan are entering an absolutely new phase.

In the Charter, which we signed with our dear guest, there are different directions of our cooperation. We will continue to work closely on issues related to security and anti-terror operations. We will continue to work on issues related to energy security. Azerbaijan today provides energy security through its natural gas resources to 16 countries, 11 of them being NATO members, allies of the United States.

Connectivity, as I already mentioned, with TRIPP, will be another contribution to peace, development, and cooperation in the region. We're also opening the chapter of cooperation in defense sales, which is also very promising, and, of course, AI data centers, which today are part of our bilateral agenda, and where we already have preliminary results from our interaction with leading American companies. In other words, today's visit of Vice President Vance can be called historical, from the point of view of hosting our friend and guest, and from the point of view of the substance of negotiations and the Strategic Charter which has been signed. Once again, Mr. Vice President, welcome to Azerbaijan