Armenia will soon restore railway sections at Meghri and Yeraskh to establish direct rail service with Azerbaijan under the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan announced the plans in a Sept. 24 address to the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, according to Vesti Baku.
The restoration would allow direct rail travel between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan would gain a route through Armenian territory linking the country’s mainland with the Nakhchivan exclave, while Armenia would gain a north-south rail connection through Nakhchivan, Pashinyan said.
TRIPP Framework Heads to Parliament
Pashinyan said a framework agreement with the United States on strategic cooperation to implement TRIPP would soon be submitted to Armenia’s parliament for ratification.
Armenia and the United States are also preparing documents to establish a development company and set out the terms of a shareholders’ agreement, he said.
Under the TRIPP implementation framework, Armenia would initially hold a 26% stake in the company and the United States would hold 74%. If the arrangement is extended, Armenia’s stake would rise to 49% in the 50th year without additional investment, Pashinyan said.
The project could include an east-west railway as well as pipelines, power transmission lines and roads. Pashinyan said the expected reopening of the Armenia-Turkey railway could create a route linking China and Central Asia with Turkey and the European Union. Restoring rail service to Nakhchivan could also support a Persian Gulf-Black Sea corridor.
Peace Agenda Remains Unfinished
Pashinyan said the next major task is to sign and ratify the peace agreement initialed by Armenia and Azerbaijan.
He said several thousand people remain missing as a result of the conflict and that Armenia is prepared to expand cooperation with Azerbaijan on demining.
Pashinyan also warned that hostile rhetoric in both countries, including statements made at the official level, fuels pessimism about the peace process. At the same time, he said there had been no deaths or injuries from shootings along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border for two and a half years.
The Armenian prime minister also linked the peace process with a shift in Yerevan’s relationship with Moscow, saying Armenia-Russia ties are being transformed toward friendship and mutual respect.