For the First Time in Three and a Half Decades, Armenian Cargo Travels Through Azerbaijani Railway to Reach Armenia

YEREVAN — Armenia has received its first cargo shipment in decades transiting through Azerbaijan, after the two South Caucasus neighbors agreed earlier this year to set aside their territorial dispute and work toward peace.

A train carrying more than 1,000 tons of Russian wheat arrived at a station in northern Armenia late on November 5 after passing through Azerbaijani and Georgian territory, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s office said.

Officials said Armenia expects another shipment of wheat from Kazakhstan through Azerbaijani territory in the coming days.

The deliveries follow a recent announcement by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that Baku would lift its long-standing ban on the transit of goods to Armenia.

Pashinyan’s office called the development significant in the context of “strengthening mutual trust and promoting the peace agenda.”

“The lifting of restrictions on cargo transportation to Armenia is an important step by Azerbaijan toward restoring regional communications and promoting economic cooperation,” the statement said.

“It is one of the practical implementations of the agreements reached in Washington, contributing to the institutionalization of the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” it added, referring to the August 8 agreements brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.

During a visit to Kazakhstan last month, Aliyev said lifting the transit ban “proves that peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia is no longer on paper but in practice.”

Late last month, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Overchuk said Russia and Azerbaijan had discussed the transit issue and that Baku had reaffirmed its readiness to allow Russian goods to pass through its territory. Overchuk added that Russian Railways was coordinating with regional partners to organize the shipments.