The Armenian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday that it expects a US delegation to arrive in Armenia soon to discuss the Trump Route, while Azerbaijan received representatives of the US Certified Trade Mission on Monday.
‘Discussions with the American side are planned in the near future, including on the implementation of the Trump Route’, Armenian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ani Badalyan told RFE/RL.
It remains unclear when the visit will take place.
The Washington summit on 8 August saw the initialling of the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as an agreement to establish a route between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenia called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
During a press briefing on 28 August, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that there were ‘no substantive discussions’ on the Trump Route after the 8 August summit, Armenpress reported.
‘We will start more substantive discussions in September with the US on their part and Azerbaijan on their part’, Pashinyan said.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Reports of a US delegation’s upcoming visit to Armenia followed the visit of representatives of the US Certified Trade Mission for the Middle Corridor to Azerbaijan on Monday.
According to the Azerbaijani state-run media Azertac, Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov met with the representatives on Monday. They discussed the Washington summit’s outcomes and its ‘historical significance’ and their contribution ‘to regional peace and progress, noting that they open new avenues for Azerbaijani–US cooperation’.
‘In this regard, the parties underlined the importance of the project that will ensure unhindered movement between the western regions of Azerbaijan and [the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan]’, the statement read.
They also highlighted ‘Azerbaijan’s longstanding efforts to revitalise and operationalise the Middle Corridor, including specific projects such as the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway, the Baku International Sea Trade Port, and the Alat Free Economic Zone’.
