Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev visited Armenia on April 29. He is the head of the state commission responsible for clarifying the state border with Armenia, and the trip was made within this framework.
Medianews.az reports that Shahin Mustafayev is the highest-ranking Azerbaijani official to visit Armenia in recent decades.
During the years when our lands were under occupation, visits by Azerbaijani officials to Armenia were very rare. Among these, it is possible to cite the visits of Ali Insanov as Minister of Health and Misir Mardanov as Minister of Education to Armenia, as well as the representation of Azerbaijan at some international events in Yerevan at the level of Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.
However, both at that time and after our lands were liberated from occupation, the visit of a higher-ranking Azerbaijani official, including the Deputy Prime Minister, to Armenia — until Shahin Mustafayev — never took place.
Shahin Mustafayev is also the first high-ranking official in recent decades to travel directly from Azerbaijan to Armenia. Previously, ministers and deputy ministers who had been in Armenia had passed through a third country's territory.
Shahin Mustafayev was born in 1965 in Dagh Borchali — in the Jujevan (Jujekend) village of the Noyemberyan (Injesu, Barana) district of Soviet Armenia. He received eight years of education in the village and two years in the district center. He graduated from the current Azerbaijan State University of Economics. He worked as chief accountant at the Baku Main Construction Directorate. He held various responsible positions at tax institutions, including head of the Department of Economic Analysis and Accounting Organization of the Ministry of Taxes. He served as head of the Department of Economics and Accounting, Vice President for Economic Affairs of the State Oil Company, and first deputy minister of taxes. He was Minister of Economic Development, Minister of Economy and Industry, and Minister of Economy. Since 2019, he has been Deputy Prime Minister. He is a laureate of the "Shohrat" order.
Since May 23, 2022, he has been the chairman of the State Commission on the Delimitation of the State Border between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia.
From 1988 to 1994, Armenia occupied the southwest of Azerbaijan and 1 village of the Sadarak district, 7 villages of the Gazakh district, and established a separatist regime in Karabakh.
From September 27 to November 10, 2020, as a result of the war waged by Azerbaijan and subsequent negotiations and local military operations, the districts of Jabrayil, Fuzuli, Zangilan, Gubadli, Aghdam, Kalbajar, Lachin were completely liberated, and Shusha, Khojavend, Khojaly, Aghdere were partially liberated.
On September 19, 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military operation against the occupying regime controlling the cities of Khankendi, Khojaly, Aghdere, Khojavend and parts of the Shusha, Khojaly, Khojavend, and Aghdere districts; the next day, the regime undertook a disarmament obligation, mass migration of Armenians from Karabakh began on September 24, and on September 28, the regime released itself.
On May 24, 2024, Armenia withdrew from the villages of Ashagy Askipara, Baghanis Ayrim, Kheyrimli, Qizilhajili of the Gazakh district.
The villages of Kerki in the Sadarak district and Barkhudarly, Sofulu, Upper Askipara in the Gazakh district remain in an enclave status, surrounded by Armenian territory.
On August 8, 2025, the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia signed a joint declaration in Washington under the witness of the US President, taking a peace commitment; the Foreign Ministers of the two countries initialed a draft agreement on establishing peace and interstate relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.