The US and Armenia announced a framework Tuesday for the implementation of a strategic transit corridor agreed during a White House Peace Summit in August to boost regional trade, Anadolu Agency reports.
The announcement came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan at the State Department to discuss progress on the corridor and broader US-Armenia cooperation.
The transit project, known as the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), will link mainland Azerbaijan with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through southern Armenia, under a declaration signed at the August summit by Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and US President Donald Trump.
“While connecting the main part of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and creating a vital link in the Trans-Caspian Trade Route, the TRIPP is expected to generate reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia,” according to a statement after the meeting.
Rubio told reporters before the meeting that the corridor “opens up Armenia for business and allows it to prosper economically, but it does so in a way that doesn’t in any way infringe upon the sovereignty of Armenia.”
“We just think the TRIPP arrangement really is going to turn out to be a model for the world of how you can open yourself up to economic activity and prosperity without in any way questioning or undermining your sovereignty and your territorial integrity,” he added.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process also includes border delimitation talks, unblocking transport routes and the finalization of a formal peace treaty.
The leaders also initialed a 17-point peace agreement, which includes commitments to respect sovereignty and territorial integrity, refrain from the use of force, establish diplomatic relations, set up bilateral commissions, and conduct negotiations through border commissions to finalize border delimitation and demarcation.
