Asbarez: Rubio says TRIPP Could ‘Revolutionize’ Armenia’s Strategic Location

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifies at a Senate Foreign Relations hearing on Jun. 2 (AP Photo)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity—TRIPP—has the potential to “revolutionize Armenia’s strategic location” and become a “central hub for trade” in the region.

“I was there last week. We signed the TRIPP agreement between the U.S. and Armenia,” Rubio told a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday, in response to a question from Republican Senator Steve Daines of Montana for a briefing on the U.S.-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal and the TRIPP project.

“We signed the TRIPP agreement between the U.S. and Armenia. I know it is the anchor of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and that’s critical, but it’s much more than just an anchor of a peace agreement,” Rubio said.

“It really has an opportunity to revolutionize Armenia’s strategic location and become a central hub for trade in the region. It solves the issue of access that Azerbaijan cared about and which was an irritant in the relationship, but it does much more than that. It has the ability to transform the Armenian economy in a very powerful way,” the Secretary of State emphasized.

In the context of Armenia–United States relations, Rubio said that the TRIPP project has also reinvigorated bilateral ties between Yerevan and Washington.

“Here is the other thing that it has done — for a long period of time, our relations with Armenia were quite stagnant and, in many cases, I would argue almost nonexistent. It has also reinvigorated that relationship between our two countries and allows us to explore opportunities in all sorts of other fields,” Rubio added.

He said the U.S. is involved “heavily” in the process and expressed hope that the deal will incentivize U.S. private sector investments in TRIPP to the benefit of Armenia, Azerbaijan, other regional countries, and U.S. interests.

It was during this same hearing that Rubio suggested that Russia would like Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to lose in the upcoming June 7 elections, because of his rapprochements with the United States.

“I think this is pretty well understood in the open-source reporting, the Russians are less than happy about our engagement there. I think there’s evidence that they would like the current [prime minister] to lose his election as a result of this growing relationship with the United States,” Rubio told the committee.

“To be clear, we’re not there to infringe on Armenian sovereignty. We’re not asking them not to be friends with other countries. We just want to be able to have a relationship with them that’s built not just on peace. Peace is important, but that’s just the beginning. It is the economic opportunities that it provides, there are American companies and American workers that will benefit from it, but the Armenian people will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this corridor opening,” he said.

The Secretary of State highlighted the significance of implementing the agreement.

“The key is going to be execution. Like, you can sign an agreement, you can have the things in place. We now have to make sure we are focused on driving it and ensuring that, to the extent American companies can contribute to the infrastructure, the railway, the highway, to everything that needs to happen in order for that corridor to open, and then the spin-off effect of it as well. We don’t need to dominate it, we are not asking for an American economic monopoly, but we do want our companies to get a fair shake in there, and by the way, partnering with Armenian companies in many cases so it becomes mutually beneficial.”

The Framework Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the United States of America on Strategic Cooperation Concerning the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity was initialed by Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Yerevan on May 26.

The Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity is a connectivity project in Armenia envisaged under the U.S.-brokered Armenian-Azerbaijani joint declaration signed in Washington, D.C. The project is expected to unlock strategic economic opportunities, create long-term benefits through infrastructure investment and enhance regional connectivity. An Armenian-American joint enterprise is expected to develop the route.

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