Third-Party Role in TRIPP Needs US Consent, Says PM

"The TRIPP company itself is a joint venture formed by Armenia and the United States of America, but it is not a professional in the fields of railway, electricity, energy, oil, internet, and others. And there will likely be a need, perhaps in some cases, perhaps in all cases, perhaps in some cases, to invite professional investors who are proficient in that business, how to invest money in a given sector and how to make a profit."

Nikol Pashinyan addressed the topic during the "Crossroads of Peace: Developing Regional Communications" conference.

"Armenia and the United States will discuss the scope of third-party involvement. We need to discuss which third companies can participate, on what grounds. And here I want to emphasize that for the involvement of any investor here, there must be an agreement between Armenia and the United States. I say this also because in our reality, scenarios are also being discussed which, according to those presenting them, contain risks for the Republic of Armenia," emphasized the RA Prime Minister.

He also separately addressed the topic of what relations Azerbaijan will have with all this.

"I want to make the following emphasis, that the TRIPP project is a bilateral Armenia-United States project, but does Azerbaijan have anything to do with this topic? Yes, Azerbaijan has something to do with this topic, because we can build a railway, but if that railway does not connect to Azerbaijan's railway, it will not work. That railway existed in the past and was nullified due to the situation, the political situation, and then, you know what happened. That is, the project itself is bilateral, Armenia-United States, but the general understanding is that we need this so that we can integrate our projects with Azerbaijan's project. Of course, in this context, it is clear that Azerbaijan's interest is in the connection between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which is also emphasized in the declaration. Our interest is also in the Armenia-Armenia connection through the territory of Azerbaijan, and it is possible that in the future, business itself may generate interest in some scenarios through the territory of Azerbaijan," noted Pashinyan.