Armenia and Azerbaijan Plan July Dubai Summit on Draft Peace Deal

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are expected to meet in Dubai later this month, reviving high-level negotiations on a comprehensive peace agreement after three decades of intermittent conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Diplomatic sources say the United Arab Emirates brokered the venue. Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan telephoned his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts on 25 June to prepare the talks, underscoring Abu Dhabi’s growing role as mediator in the South Caucasus. Yerevan and Baku reached a draft peace text in March, but Azerbaijan is still pressing for amendments to Armenia’s constitution that reference Azerbaijani territory, the withdrawal of the EU Monitoring Mission in Armenia and the formal dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. The two leaders last met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Tirana in May. Regional observers note that Ankara, which hosted Pashinyan on an unprecedented visit on 20 June, has urged Baku to finalise the accord. Separate, unconfirmed reports claim Armenia, Türkiye and Azerbaijan have agreed in principle on opening the Zangezur Corridor, a transport route linking mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenian territory, though none of the governments have commented publicly.