Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said that Armenia will begin commissioning design work for the railway, highway, and power transmission lines for the Trump Route in order to avoid any delays in the project’s implementation.
Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the US agreed to establish the route during the Washington summit of August 2025. The massive infrastructure project would connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory. A bilateral document with the US and Armenia described the route as being ‘expected to generate reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia’.
The Trump Route will be developed by the TRIPP Development Company. Pashinyan has said that once the company is set up, Armenia will transfer the completed work to the company.
During a budget discussion in parliament on Monday, Pashinyan also announced that the government had begun implementing the project, describing it as a turning point for Armenia that would help to end the ‘30-year lasting blockade’.
Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan have been closed for decades over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Turkey has repeatedly stated that Armenia’s signing of the peace treaty with Azerbaijan would remain a precondition for the ending of the border closure.
In the framework of Turkey-Armenia normalisation, two countries have reached an agreement to allow third-country citizens and diplomats to cross the border. However, the Armenia–Turkey land border remains closed, with Turkey conditioning progress on its opening on the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process.
‘Before organising the subsequent processes, the Armenian government will, on its own initiative, launch the process of commissioning the design of the railway, highway, and power transmission lines under the TRIPP project, so that we do not lose time and can begin work on the project’, said Pashinyan during the budget discussion in parliament on Monday.
On 28 October, Armenia’s Parliament ratified a framework agreement with the US on strategic cooperation concerning the Trump Route. The agreement was adopted by parliament on 28 October, with only the ruling Civil Contract party’s support. The opposition voted against the agreement.
Pashinyan clarified that the unblocking of transport links does not mean that all new infrastructure has to be part of the route.
‘The TRIPP project will include the Nrnadzor–Karchevan railway, as well as power transmission lines and a highway there. The issues of a gas pipeline and an oil pipeline are matters for discussion at a later stage’, he added.
Nrndazor and Karchevan are two villages in Armenia’s southernmost Syunik region through which the Trump Route is expected to pass. The Nrnadzor–Karchevan railway is part of a Soviet-era track that has been out of commission since 1989.
Responding to opposition MP Kristine Vardanyan, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan said on 21 October that the Meghri railway would likely follow a narrow strip between a river and cliffs where a railway once ran, but he doubted that oil and gas pipelines could fit in the same place.
‘The TRIPP project has no area. This is because Armenia has ratified an international agreement that has superior legal power. TRIPP projects can be implemented in different places across Armenia’, Pashinyan said on Monday, adding that it was not a given that, if future oil or gas pipes passed through Armenia, they wouldn’t necessarily have to pass through the south of the country.
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