US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will host the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia for an "official peace signing ceremony" at the White House on Friday.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote, "I look forward to hosting the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, at the White House tomorrow for a Historic Peace Summit."
"These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the war, with no success, until now, thanks to "TRUMP."
The US president added that his administration has been engaged with both Armenia and Azerbaijan "for quite some time," and that the two leaders would join him at the White House on Friday for the "official Peace Signing Ceremony."
Additionally, he said that the US would sign bilateral agreements with both states to further economic opportunities.
"Together, we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus region. I am very proud of these courageous leaders for doing the right thing for the great people of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It will be a historic day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and THE WORLD. See you then!"
Serious negotiations between Armenia, Azerbaijan took place in July
Earlier in July, the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan held substantive talks in Abu Dhabi in what amounted to the most serious direct negotiations yet in a fitful process to end almost four decades of conflict.
The two sides said in March they had agreed on the text of a draft peace agreement, but progress since then has been sporadic and slow.
In statements, the countries' two foreign ministries said Pashinyan and Aliyev had discussed items including the delimitation of their shared 1,000-kilometer border and agreed to continue dialogue at various levels.
A peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey, and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict.