US encourages Azerbaijan to finalise peace with Armenia by year-end

Baku, Oct 22 (IANS) US President Joe Biden has sent a letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, calling for the conclusion of a peace agreement with Armenia by the end of 2024, according to an announcement on the official website of the Azerbaijani president.

In the letter, delivered by Michael Carpenter, Senior Director for Europe at the National Security Council, Biden hailed the steady progress made by Azerbaijan and Armenia toward normalising their relations.

"The United States stands ready to support a durable and dignified peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia that would finally put to rest centuries of conflict," he stressed.

The US President highlighted that such a peace agreement would not only solidify Azerbaijan's sovereignty and territorial integrity but also unlock new opportunities for regional trade, investment and connectivity between Europe and Asia, Xinhua news agency reported.

"As the world's attention turns to Baku for COP29, you have a unique opportunity to demonstrate your commitment to peace in front of a global audience," he noted.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at loggerheads over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region since 1988. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a cease-fire was agreed on. But there have been sporadic minor clashes since then. A round of major armed conflict broke out along the contact line in September 2020, before Russia brokered a new cease-fire agreement in November 2020. The latest escalation occurred on September 19, 2023, followed by a Russian-brokered cease-fire the next day.