Baku, February 10, AZERTAC

On February 10, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Vice President of the United States JD Vance delivered press statements.

The President of Azerbaijan made the statement first.

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.

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Statement by Vice President JD Vance

- Thank you, President Aliyev. I want to send the best regards from the President of the United States, both to you personally and to the people of Azerbaijan. This has, for a very long time, I think, been an underappreciated but very, very, very important partnership and friendship for the United States of America. I think many Americans may not know that, for example, the Azerbaijanis were some of the last to leave Afghanistan. They were very supportive in the global war on terrorism. They fought alongside United States Marines in Afghanistan, and, in fact, earned a reputation as being some of the toughest and fiercest troops anywhere in the world. And so we wanted to come today to show our appreciation for this friendship, but also to really turn the page and open the next chapter.

I think it will be a stronger and even better relationship under President Trump's leadership and under President Aliyev's leadership. Here in Azerbaijan, there's a lot to talk about, and there's a lot to announce.

We could spend, I think, all day up here talking about some of the great things that are happening. We're going to ship some new boats to Azerbaijan to help you with the protection of your territorial waters. We're proud to announce, and I believe I was one of the very first to fly along the new Trump Road for International Peace and Prosperity, that will connect the two separate parts of Azerbaijan.

Our hope is that this will build the kind of economic, natural resource, and critical mineral cooperation that will make it possible to really make this incredible peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia stick. Because we know that one of the great things that can prevent fighting and prevent wars from breaking out is when two peoples culturally exchange with one another, when they spend time working with one another, and, of course, when they create great prosperity by working together, rather than fighting one another.

Now, on the point of the peace agreement, I really do think that President Aliyev deserves a great amount of credit. Of course, I was just in Armenia earlier today, and without the leadership of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the President of Azerbaijan, we would not have gotten that peace agreement done. And really, three people, I think, created historic peace: the President of this country, the Prime Minister of Armenia, and, of course, the President of the United States. Working together, they created peace where previously there was war, and I think, in the future, will create prosperity where once there was only fighting and conflict. That is an amazing testament to the President's leadership, but also to President Aliyev's leadership as well. And again, this is the sort of thing that the President of the United States has committed our foreign policy to. Why should we be fighting one another when we can engage in commerce with one another, when we can build partnerships with one another?

I think that partnership, the partnership of the United States and Azerbaijan, will lead to greater peace and prosperity in the region. It will lead to more access to more markets for the workers of the United States of America, and it's just going to create a much better world where people are engaging in commerce with one another rather than fighting with one another.

I think that the core of the President of the United States' mission and foreign policy is this recognition: that we can organize around shared interests and actually build something great with one another. We signed a strategic partnership, which I think will formalize that partnership and make it very clear that the United States-Azerbaijan relationship is one that will stick, and is one that will continue to produce great fruits for both of our peoples.

And just on a personal note, I'm incredibly pleased to be here. I was telling my staff before we landed that, other than President Trump, the only leader in the world who has really good relations with both the Turks and the Israelis is President Aliyev.

And I said, so that means, one: the food must be really good here; or two: he must be really charming. I can confirm that he's very charming. We're gonna find out in a little bit about the food, and I'm sure it will be great.

But let me just say that the Second Lady and I are very pleased to be having dinner later today. And as I understand it, the Vice-President of Azerbaijan is also the President's wife, and hopefully that doesn't give the Second Lady any ideas. But I just want to say, on a personal note, and also because of the friendship of our great nations, I'm very honored to be here and very honored to continue the discussion.

God bless. Thank you all.