Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a major agreement to transit internet traffic through their territories, marking a new step in the peace process between the former rivals.
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The agreement is expected to diversify regional connectivity routes, enhance reliability and resilience in the South Caucasus, and support infrastructure development in Eurasian telecom networks.
In nearly identical statements, each operator said that “being the leading transit operator in the region,” they are “expanding the number and geography of countries supplying international Internet traffic”.
Telecom Armenia said it is thus “ensuring transit through its own infrastructure to Azerbaijan,” while AzerTelecom said it “ensures the transit of internet traffic to Armenia using its own infrastructure.”
Both companies said that “such agreements are aimed at diversifying connection routes in the region, further increasing the reliability of telecommunication networks and developing cooperation in the field of telecommunications.”
AzerTelecom, a leading backbone internet provider in the region, has announced it is developing the so-called Digital Silk Way project, which will establish a new digital corridor between Europe and Asia, including a fibre-optic cable beneath the Caspian Sea, to connect multiple regions and improve global data exchange capacity.
Meanwhile, in another sign of developing Azerbaijani-Armenian cooperation, another shipment of over 400 tonnes of fertilisers was delivered from Russia to Armenia on Tuesday via Azerbaijan’s transit routes.
In total, more than 14,000 tonnes of diesel and over 4,000 tonnes of petrol have been exported from Azerbaijan to Armenia, while over 32,000 tonnes of grain, more than 7,000 tonnes of fertiliser, and smaller quantities of aluminium, buckwheat and anthracite have passed from Russia to Armenia via Azerbaijani territory.
