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Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan is 'changing Eurasia', regional leaders say
The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents came together for the first time since signing a historic peace deal. Regional stakeholders celebrated how peace will shape the future for the whole region.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/21/peace-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan-is-changing-eurasia-regional-leaders-say
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The Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents came together for the first time since signing a historic peace deal. Regional stakeholders celebrated how peace will shape the future for the whole region.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/21/peace-between-armenia-and-azerbaijan-is-changing-eurasia-regional-leaders-say
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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NewsTranscript
00:00My name is Sasha Vakulina. I'm Euronews EU correspondent. It's my great honor to be
00:13moderating this session at WEF today and to be with you. I'm going to be starting slowly and
00:18I'm going to just go into the beginning of the session, if I may, to open it and, you know,
00:24to get into it, Azerbaijan and Armenia worked out a historic peace deal after decades of
00:31tragedies, changing the course in the future for the two countries, but also for the whole
00:37region, just as we now witness the fast-changing global order. Given how much effort it has taken
00:44to close the painful chapter, I would like to ask President Ali and President Khachatran,
00:49how do you look in the future now? What does the future hold now? Both of you being here
00:55together at this session is already a great message in itself.
00:59Yes, you're absolutely right. It was a historical achievement last August when two countries
01:06initialed peace agreement, thus putting end to three decades plus of war and bloodshed. The uniqueness
01:17of this peace deal is that it was signed less than in two years after the last bloody clash.
01:27So it demonstrates that if you have a strong political will from both sides and commitment
01:34to peace, then you can reconcile in a relatively short period of time. What has been signed today
01:42is transforming into the practical results? Not only we live in peace for five, six months
01:52only, and we enjoy the situation. Neither Armenia nor Azerbaijan as independent countries ever lived
02:00in peace. When we became independent in 1991, we were already at military standoff. But today the benefits
02:12of peace are reflected into beginning of cooperation. First cargo from Azerbaijan of critical products,
02:22oil products, oil products, are being transported to Armenia, and in itself it brings the prices down. So it was
02:31absolutely unimaginable, maybe two or three years before, but today it is a reality. And I think nothing can
02:41interfere into this process. What we need to do more, I think both sides, is to demonstrate the results
02:52of living in peace of living in peace, so that we can also witness the full support of our societies to
03:00this process. I am very optimistic because really what has been achieved is a tremendous benefit to Armenia,
03:10to Azerbaijan, to Southern Caucasus, and it sets an example of how the countries which were in very deep, hostile terms
03:20now transformed into phase of cooperation. We restored justice, international law, our sovereignty,
03:29territorial integrity, and then we achieved peace. And then we stopped. And for the leader of the country,
03:37which suffered for 30 years, to stop at the right time is a very responsible and very important decision.
03:46We could have continued. I want to be very open with you and with the audience. But that would lead to
03:52endless wars. That would lead to more sufferings, more victims. Then war would never end. And someone
04:00should have stopped it. And we decided to stop it. And yes, it was a joint decision by Armenian and
04:08Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan leadership to close that chapter and to see the opportunities for peace.
04:16The same question to you, please. How do you see it? How do you look in the future now with this
04:23whole new era opening? What does the future hold for Armenia? Two years ago, one year ago, it was
04:30unbelievable that we could achieve such a situation. Whereas now, we and the Republic of Armenia is able
04:37to receive cargo from Azerbaijan via the territory of Georgia. I'm sure we'll be able one day to receive
04:44this cargo directly through our own territories. Baku, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
04:52Armenia directly. We can have transportation, I'm sure. And we'll be able to overcome the problems that
05:00were created in the nineties. But what is very important is that we are both looking forward.
05:06If we try to look backwards, if we try to look for reasons what happened and why it happened, that will
05:14deprive us of the opportunity that we have received. The willingness and readiness from the government of
05:20Azerbaijan, Mr. Aliyev, we appreciate it. We can see it. It was today or yesterday that Mr. Aliyev mentioned
05:30that we need to learn to live in peace. I can reassure you, it's not a new, it's not a usual situation
05:37for us. Before signing these documents, we would wake up and try to find out what's happening on the
05:44border. Shootings, death, wounded, stress for us. Now let's be reassured. We are forgetting this. Now we
05:55are more living in times where we need to implement projects and we will succeed. We will succeed because
06:02our agreements are very concrete. The principles are very concrete. We do respect each other's
06:10territorial integrity, sovereignty, and the jurisdiction. We will be guided by those principles.
06:17We will open borders. And I'm sure that after some years, not only at the highest political level,
06:23we will have such meetings, but also it will become business as usual when our citizens from Armenia and
06:29Azerbaijan will cross the border, will do business with each other, will make use of the benefits of
06:35each other. And therefore, as a result of this cooperation, it will become a very conducive
06:40region as the South Caucasus for the entire world. The discussions that we are now having
06:47about connectivity between Europe and Asia, the best way to do this is South Caucasus. This process will
06:54succeed because there is an economic interest as well, not only political. Political is very important,
07:01but also economic. And this will enhance and strengthen the agreements that we have achieved on.
07:08And I do want to thank the leadership of Azerbaijan, Mr. Aliyev. I do have the right also to say thank you to
07:15our Prime Minister as well. President Vucic, I would like to ask you, how do you see the role of Serbia as
07:21somehow this important bridge for Eurasia, a bridge between Europe and Asia when it comes to redefining and
07:32defining this economic identity for the region? I believe that the role of our countries will become
07:40even, we all know that we belong to small countries, relatively small nations, speaking about size and numbers.
07:50It's not about our pride and dignity, but I believe that we'll have bigger importance in the future,
08:00and I'll tell you why. From Armenia, let's say 3 million, 7 million, Serbia, 10 million, Azerbaijan.
08:08We'll have to get along with each other, we'll have to cooperate, we'll have to do things together.
08:14Because in today's world, where we are facing no rules, no regulations, we are big fish,
08:24eat smaller fishes, and they're saying it, they're not even wrapping it in anything, they just do it,
08:33and they're saying it bluntly, and not observing and not in accordance with UN Trotter and UN resolutions,
08:45we'll have to take care of ourselves. And now you have two different schools. One is either to belong to
08:52those big, newly defined empires in different hemispheres, either to still protect your sovereignty and independence.
09:06And knowing Azerbaijanis people, Armenian people, and Serbian people, I know that we'll pick the option number two,
09:16which means that we'll protect our countries, our nations, our sovereignty and our independence.
09:21Of course, wanting, of course, to cooperate with everybody, but at the end, we'll have to keep our national interests
09:32and to, and our statecraft as well.
09:36Ebreus Demir, we touched, the President touched upon a little bit the investment side and the business side of it,
09:41and it would be great to hear, please, from your take, what's your view regarding the policies
09:47and probably the strategies needed to strengthen Eurasian's competitiveness as well as, ultimately,
09:55also the integration in the global picture and the global trade.
09:58The investments can only start when there's peace and long-term stability.
10:03I mean, if there's no stability, nobody wants to invest. So hearing the leaders here,
10:08and I'm very happy to be among these very strong leaders, that the peace and prosperity going to be long-term,
10:14it means investors can come. And I've seen the trip agreement, it's very well defined,
10:20and it's the first start of, I think, the major investments can start from that agreement.
10:28Because currently, there is CARS-TPVC project already, the Baku project,
10:33and I think with the middle corridor, then we can add more to this. So what I'm saying is,
10:39the infrastructure is not only the roads, it's not only the railroads, it's the digital infrastructure,
10:45it's the energy infrastructure as well. And also, it brings out many more infrastructures. I mean,
10:50the dry ports, the logistical hubs, and the people. I mean, people start to come and live around it.
10:56If I may intervene regarding some good words, said by Madame Özdemir, if I pronounce that well.
11:04Perfect.
11:08We are speaking about peace, stability, tranquility. There has never been less peace, stability,
11:16and tranquility in the world. Last year was the worst year after the Second World War,
11:21with number of wars that were launched by different countries or within the countries.
11:27And this year is going to be worse than last year. And next year is going to be worse than this year.
11:34And everybody is speaking about peace, accusing someone else for not observing something,
11:43not paying respect to someone. But at the end, everybody is taking care of
11:47its own national interest. Nobody cares about multilateralism. And this is the biggest mistake
11:56that all of us made in the past. And now, no one can correct it. There are people that might say,
12:02even in our countries, in Yerevan, Baku, Belgrade, they might say, okay, it's somewhere away from us.
12:10But there is a spillover effect. And we are all going to face the consequences. And that's why I was speaking
12:16about creating better bonds between us in order to make these shocks relatively smaller to our
12:24economies and to our politics as well. And I'm not optimistic at all. We have just entered the world
12:32of volatility and uncertainty and not sure that we'll be able to overcome it in the years to come.
12:39I'm one of the politicians who has always spoken about peace. In my political activities, I've always
12:52tried to be useful for peace. Because I understand one thing clearly. If you have neighbors, only live
13:00in peace with your neighbors, including in your daily life, there's no other way. Other way means arguing,
13:09fighting, disputes, loss of time. I am therefore optimistic that we will indeed succeed. We will
13:16indeed also have joint economic and cultural projects. We will indeed have, and we already have the
13:22precedents when the members of the civil society of our two countries meet. Business circles next will
13:31meet. In Yerevan, people can already buy Azerbaijani fuel for their cars. Years ago, if you would speak
13:39about this, there would have been hostile reaction to this. But this is the new reality we live in. And
13:46therefore, as for the problems of the world, there is a lot of volatility in the world. After COVID,
13:53a lot of things have changed. And the political map of the world is changing a lot. And the management
14:00methods are changing a lot. And therefore, especially in this situation, the small countries face challenges.
14:10But I do not want to underestimate them. Being small may also be an advantage. It allows us to act and
14:19take decisions independently ourselves and implement them independently ourselves. You may be surprised
14:28and asked, what about the big countries? Big countries have big problems. We have our countries,
14:35our interests, our actions to be taken for our interests. The global geopolitical sort of picture
14:41in the landscape looks completely different. There is not strengthening, there is rather cracking and
14:45shaking. And I would like to get that as a closing remarks for all of you speakers, please. How do you see,
14:52with this challenging and shaking and rather fragile global landscape, how do you see then the place of
15:00Eurasia in that picture, President Oluv? After peace de facto is established and we started also
15:07economic cooperation, export operations. Azerbaijan lifted all the restrictions on transportation of
15:15cargos to Armenia from Kazakhstan, from Russia. And now we got a request from Armenian side to provide
15:25transit transit from Armenia to Russia. So we de facto unilaterally opened the corridors. Yes,
15:36the transportation goes through Georgia, but one day it will go through Armenia. One day Armenia will go
15:45directly through Azerbaijan. And that day is not too far away. We established a very close alliance
15:54relationship with Turkey, which is a brotherly country. And we have a huge investments in Turkey.
16:01Our investments in Turkey are more than 20 billion US dollars. We are one of the biggest investors in
16:09Georgia. With a trip and connectivity project, which United States now is supervising. We will establish a new
16:19transportation corridor stretching from Asia, across the Caspian, through Azerbaijan, Armenia, part of Azerbaijan,
16:29which is Nakhchivan, Turkey, and further down to Europe, in addition to the existing corridors through Georgia. So the more
16:37routes, the better for consumers, for suppliers, for transit countries. So we as a country, we always concentrate
16:46on our regional agenda. And if we cannot achieve what we want in the region, we cannot have any aspirations
16:56for any kind of a global event. But today, especially after parallel tracks of Armenia-Azerbaijan and Turkish
17:06Armenian rapprochement, which go in parallel, which go in parallel and definitely will end in parallel by
17:12establishment of diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, Azerbaijan and Armenia at the same time,
17:19we are changing the broad geographical area, part of Eurasia, which is very important for connectivity,
17:29for energy security, for peace, for stability. President, which would be your closing thoughts?
17:36The spillover effect will harm us a lot. I'll tell you why. More than Azerbaijan, of course,
17:42because we have a lot of German companies, French companies, Italian companies that are producing spare parts.
17:48If they will face bigger tariffs from the United States of America, which is the main market for those companies,
17:55it will mean that we'll have to shut down our factories, our plants in Serbia. And at the same time,
18:01there is a political issue. I see that we are coming to an end of a session. Everybody used to have its own
18:08Pandora's box. Now everybody is speaking about new Pandora's box. The real Pandora's box was open
18:15on Kosovo issue, when many countries in the world, Western world in particular, recognized and
18:23acknowledged an independence of Kosovo, saying, well, this was because of humanitarian disaster that was
18:30caused by alleged Serbian authorities action in Kosovo. And at the end, you can see the same
18:38arguments are used by all the others that are doing against the other countries. But everybody is
18:44forgetting when it started. And now why I'm afraid, and why I'm saying that I'm not that optimistic,
18:50is the fact that we are having more regional and local wars than ever. You have no certainty,
18:58even in the Gulf region, is it not used to be the case till the last few months. And also need to
19:09say that this divorce between US and Europe is not going to be just a temporary issue. It's going to last
19:19for quite a more time. And at the end, we'll all have to pay the price. Whether we'll be able to take care of
19:30ourselves, I hope that we'll be able to do it better than some others. But are we going to be hit? No doubt
19:37that we're going to be hit. But with the support and with the help, with the assistance of such good friends like
19:43Armenia and Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan and hopefully Turkey as well, we'll be able to overcome all these
19:51difficulties. Thank you very much for participating. Thank you for being here and thank you for watching
19:55this live.
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