When US President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House on Friday, the meeting will end with the signing of a framework peace agreement that includes the US's exclusive rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus. This is reported by the authoritative Reuters newspaper, citing its senior sources.
This is considered a key stage in the path to closing the chapter on hostility between Armenia and Azerbaijan. US officials emphasize that this initiative will open up the region's communication opportunities and contribute to stability, while avoiding new military clashes.
"A peace agreement could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region that borders Russia, Europe, Turkey, and Iran and is crisscrossed by oil and gas pipelines, but is divided by closed borders and long-standing ethnic conflicts," the newspaper writes.
According to the newspaper, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will join Donald Trump at the White House to sign a framework agreement aimed at achieving a "concrete path to peace" and resolving the long-standing issue of transit.
According to a carefully coordinated section of the documents that the leaders will sign on Friday, Armenia plans to grant the United States exclusive rights to develop a transit corridor, which will be called the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP).
The publication emphasizes that the route will be operated by Armenian law, and the United States will sublease the infrastructure and management to a consortium.
"This step of commercial significance will unblock the region and prevent further military action," one of the officials said.
Officials said the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan will also sign documents calling for the dissolution of the Minsk Group, which has been co-chaired by France, Russia, and the United States since 1992.
