US, Azerbaijan Sign Strategic Partnership Agreement During Vance Visit

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a strategic partnership agreement on Feb. 10, as President Donald Trump’s administration works to boost its influence in Central Asia.

At a press conference in the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku on Tuesday, Vance thanked Azerbaijan for its past military partnerships with the United States, and said Azerbaijani forces had proven themselves during the fighting in Afghanistan as “some of the toughest and fiercest troops anywhere in the world.”

Aliyev stated that his country would continue to support counter-terrorism efforts in the region. Last month, Azerbaijan’s State Security Service announced arrests to stop an ISIS terror plot targeting a foreign embassy in Baku.

The Azerbaijani president said the new strategic partnership agreement would cover defense sales, as well as the opening of new artificial intelligence data centers for his country.

“We’re going to ship some new boats to Azerbaijan to help you all with some of your territorial waters protection,” Vance added.

Azerbaijan borders the Caspian Sea and shares the waterway with Russia, Iran, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.

Aliyev also said his country would continue to support energy security efforts in the region, noting that Azerbaijan sells natural gas to 11 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations.

The new U.S.–Azerbaijani security partnership follows efforts by the Trump administration to resolve longstanding tensions between Azerbaijan and its neighbor, Armenia. In August, the Trump administration brokered the signing of a joint declaration by Armenia and Azerbaijan to normalize relations and commit to resolving territorial disputes peacefully.

One component of the peace framework the Trump administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan last summer includes the construction of a corridor through Armenia connecting the main part of Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan. The passage is to be called the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity,” or TRIPP.

At the Tuesday press conference, Vance said he was among the first to fly along the TRIPP corridor.

He expressed hopes that TRIPP “will build the kind of economic and natural resource and critical mineral cooperation that’ll make it possible to really make this incredible peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia stick.”

Ahead of his stop in Baku, Vance visited the Armenian capital city of Yerevan and met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Vance and Pashinyan reached an agreement for the United States to begin exporting some nuclear energy technology to Armenia.

Vance said the deal could bring as much as $5 billion in initial U.S. exports to Armenia, as well as $4 billion in long-term contracts for fuel and maintenance.

Kimberly Hayek contributed to this report.