(AFP) – Armenia will give the United States a nearly three-quarters stake in a corridor of its land connecting parts of rival Azerbaijan, Washington announced Tuesday, as it said it expected to benefit financially from the arrangement but promised to respect sovereignty.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out a framework for the project as he met in Washington with the top diplomat of Armenia, whose government agreed to the plan after a crushing Azerbaijani military victory in 2023 that ended a long-running conflict. The United States had proposed developing a corridor that would connect the larger part of Azerbaijan with its exclave of Nakhchivan, which is not linked otherwise with the rest of Azerbaijan and borders the country’s key ally, Turkey. Armenia lies between these two parts of Azerbaijan.
In the typical fashion of President Donald Trump’s administration, the corridor is named after him — the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) — and he has listed Armenia and Azerbaijan as beneficiaries of peace after a series of wars he claims to have ended. A framework released by the State Department after Rubio’s meeting said that Armenia would give the United States a 74 percent share in a new “TRIPP Development Company” and retain the rest for itself. The company will set up a corporate structure bringing together the two governments that will develop rail and road routes through the corridor, it said.
The company’s objectives will include giving a “financial return to the US for its initial contribution or other economic benefits to the US government or for US companies,” the framework said. The project will open new markets for US investment and speed up trade “to bring raw materials, critical minerals and rare earth metals to American markets,” it said. Speaking with Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Rubio said: “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.” “It’s going to be great for Armenia, great for the United States, great for everyone involved,” Rubio said.
Release of the project details come days after the United States deposed the leader of Venezuela and said that US companies would profit from its oil sector, whose proceeds would go back to buy US products.
**Sovereignty safeguards**
The United States previously announced $145 million in funding for development of the Armenia corridor. The framework said that Armenia’s sovereignty over the corridor would be “absolute and non-negotiable.” Armenia will maintain the right to enforce its own domestic laws within the TRIPP area, including by controlling law enforcement.
Some US policymakers hope that the corridor will also help reduce the influence of Russia, the historic ally of Armenia. Many Armenians voiced resentment that Moscow, bogged down in Ukraine, failed to prevent the Azerbaijani victory in 2023. Armenian separatists for nearly three decades held the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh inside energy-rich Azerbaijan, which swept through the area in a lightning offensive in 2023.
The TRIPP project, and the prospect of a major US presence, has raised concern in Iran, which also borders Nakhchivan and has had warm relations with Armenia. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan last year assured Iran’s clerical government by saying that the corridor would remain under Armenian sovereignty.
© 2024 AFP
