Since the end of the conflict and Armenian occupation of Garabagh, the first ever bilateral meeting between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Abu Dhabi in July 2025 marks a significant step forward in the search for a comprehensive peace agreement between the two South Caucasus neighbours. Facilitated under the diplomatic auspices of the United Arab Emirates, a rising mediator in global conflicts, the talks have generated cautious optimism among regional watchers and international stakeholders alike. Central to the discussions is the long-disputed Zangazur Corridor, a proposed transport route that has drawn in not only Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also the United States, Russia, Iran, Türkiye, and the European Union.

At its core, the Zangazur Corridor represents more than a logistics route linking Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through southern Armenia. It is a strategic artery that could reshape connectivity across Eurasia, reinforce energy security for Europe, and redefine power alignments in the post-Soviet space. In Abu Dhabi, for the first time, the Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders discussed third-party management of the corridor, most notably, a US proposal to control the corridor for 100 years, a move that underscores Washington’s growing interest in countering both Russian and Iranian influence in the South Caucasus.

The Zangazur Corridor, if realised, would dramatically shorten trade routes between Central Asia and Europe via the Caspian, South Caucasus, and Türkiye. For Armenia, however, the corridor has become a symbol of lost leverage and a domestic political liability, which Pashinyan’s government has tried to rebrand as a "transit route under Armenian sovereignty",........

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