The Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Sunday that it has reached an agreement with Armenia to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The ministry stated that the agreement was made during a meeting between Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China.

The statement added that both ministers expressed their commitment to the principles and objectives of the United Nations Charter.

They discussed ways to cooperate in various fields such as economy, education, culture, and tourism.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister commented on his meeting with the Armenian counterpart in a post on the American platform “X”.

Dar said, “We signed a joint declaration on establishing diplomatic relations between our two countries.”

Due to Pakistan’s support for Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which was occupied by Armenia, Pakistan had not established diplomatic relations with Armenia for many decades.

On September 27, 2020, the Azerbaijani army launched an operation to liberate its occupied territories in Nagorno-Karabakh. After 44 days of fighting, Azerbaijan and Armenia reached a ceasefire agreement, under which Baku regained control over occupied provinces.

On August 8 of this year, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint declaration called the “Roadmap for Peace” following a trilateral summit hosted by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.