Azerbaijan, U.S. lawmakers discuss peace, trade and transport corridors

President Ilham Aliyev has held talks in Baku with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. Congress, focusing on regional peace efforts, expanding bilateral ties and new transport corridors.

The delegation included U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, alongside House of Representatives members Jason Smith, Ronny Jackson and Jimmy Panetta.

The visiting lawmakers thanked President Aliyev for the reception and said the pace of development in Baku had made a strong impression.

They also congratulated him on progress towards a peace agenda between Azerbaijan and Armenia, following understandings reached in Washington last August.

President  Aliyev welcomed the remarks, describing the agreements as historically significant and highlighting the role of Donald Trump in facilitating the process.

He said Azerbaijan would continue working to advance regional peace.

He noted that trade links between Azerbaijan and Armenia had already been established, citing exports of Azerbaijani oil products to Armenia and the transit of Kazakh and Russian wheat through Azerbaijani territory to the Armenian market.

Aliyev also expressed hope that the TRIPP corridor would create new opportunities for regional transport connectivity.

The president said the 907th Amendment to the U.S. Freedom Support Act no longer reflected the current state of bilateral relations. 

He welcomed its suspension under Trump and expressed hope that members of U.S. Congress would continue efforts towards its full repeal.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the development of Azerbaijan–U.S. relations and said there was strong potential to expand cooperation across political, economic, energy, defence, education, information technology and artificial intelligence sectors.

They also exchanged views on closer cooperation between the two countries’ legislative bodies.

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