From Deal to Rules: An EU Offer for TRIPP and Middle Corridor Governance
In August 2025, Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have never established diplomatic relations, initialled a peace agreement at the White House. It was the most significant step towards normalising relations since Azerbaijan’s military victory over Armenia in 2020 and its seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, which displaced the region’s entire Armenian population. The Trump administration counts the agreement among its signature foreign policy achievements.
In January 2026, the US and Armenia published an Implementation Framework for the peace agreement’s most visible deliverable: the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). The Framework envisages a 43-kilometre route through Armenia’s southern Syunik province, linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave through rail, road, energy, and digital infrastructure. A US-majority company will develop and manage the route under a 49-year concession, extendable for another 50 years.
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© Map created by Comms interns João and Helena, using Gemini and Perplexity, modified with Microsoft Paint.
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