Armenia is set to receive its first shipment of Russian wheat through Azerbaijan, marking a significant step towards reopening regional transport routes that have been closed for more than three decades due to the conflict between the two South Caucasus neighbours.
Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan announced late on Tuesday that Russian wheat was being transported to Armenia via Azerbaijani and Georgian territory. In a Facebook post, he said that Kazakh exports were also on their way and expected to arrive ‘in the coming days’.
According to the Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet APA, fifteen wagons carrying around 1,050 tonnes of Russian wheat departed from Russia and were cleared to transit through Azerbaijan and Georgia en route to Armenia’s Dalarik station.
The delivery marks the first direct cargo transit between the two countries since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The development follows Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s announcement during his 21 October visit to Kazakhstan that Baku had lifted all restrictions on the movement of goods to Armenia. At the time, Aliyev said Azerbaijan had already approved the transit of Kazakh wheat to Armenia as a sign of regional cooperation.
The reopening of transport routes has been one of the key and most sensitive issues in ongoing peace negotiations between the two countries. Both have faced growing international pressure to normalise relations following the decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, which ended with Azerbaijan’s full takeover of the region in 2023.
Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a draft peace deal in August during talks in Washington mediated by US President Donald Trump. The agreement stipulated that ‘Armenia will work with the US and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of the Republic of Armenia’.
Nate Ostiller
