Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the government will commission railway, highway and power-line designs before a planned development company is established. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan considers a special border-delimitation round likely, but says Armenia and Azerbaijan have not agreed on it.
Armenia’s government will begin commissioning designs for a railway, highway and electricity transmission lines under the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on 2 November 2026. He told parliamentary committees discussing the draft 2027 budget that the country had entered the project’s implementation phase.
The announcement followed Armenia’s National Assembly ratification of the US–Armenia framework agreement on 28 October by 63 votes to 32. The agreement enters into force when the later of two diplomatic notes confirms that each country has completed its required internal procedures.
Pashinyan said the government would act before the TRIPP Development Company is established to avoid losing time, then transfer whatever work is completed once the company is established and ready to take it over. His announcement concerns commissioning designs, not completed design or construction.
The design plan covers the Nrnadzor–Karchevan railway and a highway and power lines in the same area. The railway section lies in southern Syunik along the Arax River border with Iran and follows a disused Soviet-era route, Hetq said. The precise routes have yet to be chosen; Grigoryan said officials were examining options to make investment efficient and the infrastructure competitive in the region.
Grigoryan, who heads Armenia’s border-delimitation commission, told Azatutyun that an extraordinary round of work to define the border around the TRIPP infrastructure was highly likely to help organize and carry out the project. He said Armenia and Azerbaijan had not agreed on the next round.
The two countries agreed to continue from north to south after delimiting about 12 kilometers in the Tavush–Gazakh section in spring 2024. Grigoryan said the process had slowed but that there was no obstacle to continuing it.
An expert estimates that 60 hectares of Shikahogh forest have been cut since 2022 to build positions and roads. Farming has effectively stopped in nearby fields. Armenian authorities see border delimitation as a way to address the territorial issue.
Pashinyan expects the project to help overcome what he described as Armenia’s more than 30-year blockade and open east–west and north–south rail links. He said not all infrastructure needed to reopen connections would be part of TRIPP; oil and gas pipelines are for later discussion.
The framework envisages a connection through Armenia between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, as well as reciprocal connectivity benefits for Armenia. Armenia’s opposition has objected that the conditions for its citizens to travel through Azerbaijan remain unclear; Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan has also said the issue needs clarification.
The framework envisages an Armenian-incorporated joint-stock venture with a 74% controlling stake held by TDC US, a planned Delaware-incorporated, wholly owned subsidiary of the US International Development Finance Corporation, and 26% held by Armenia. Establishing it is intended to require a company charter governed by Armenian law and a shareholders' agreement governed by US and New York law. The US also intends to seek authorization, including notifying Congress and obtaining the required approval from the agency’s board.
Once the company is incorporated and project areas are selected, the framework calls for Armenia to grant it exclusive land-use and development rights for an initial 49 years, with those rights assignable to project subsidiaries. Armenia is to take steps consistent with Armenian law to ensure the land is or can become state property and is free of encumbrances and third-party rights, and bear the associated costs.
Armenia retains sovereignty and jurisdiction over its borders and customs under the agreement, as well as responsibility for border control, security, customs and immigration. Private operators are to provide customer-facing services at relevant crossings, subject to Armenia and the company agreeing.
The framework traces the project to the 8 August 2025 Washington declaration by Armenia’s prime minister and Azerbaijan’s president, witnessed by the US president. Armenia and the US published an implementation framework on 13 January 2026, followed by the strategic cooperation framework in May. Officials visited Syunik on 21 October to discuss organizing the start of design work, Armenia’s infrastructure ministry said.
The prime minister’s office had earlier reported that work was under way on drafts of the company’s charter and shareholders' agreement.
The company still needs to be established, routes selected and a further border-delimitation round agreed. At an October 21 committee meeting, Mirzoyan described early 2027 as the more realistic time to begin construction, rather than a fixed deadline.
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