The Zangezur Corridor, a planned railway connection across southern Armenia to connect the two parts of Azerbaijan, will take at least two years to complete. Once functional, it would add another route through the Caucasus to the Middle Corridor, which runs between China and Europe. The US and Armenia are teaming up to make it happen.
Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ararat Mirzoyan told Polish TV channel TVP World that the Zangezur Corridor would take at least two years to complete. “The specialists say that it can take at least two years. But we are very much interested in constructing, opening the ties, relaunching the ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan as soon as possible, because as I said, we are one of the main beneficiaries.”
It seems that Armenia, once vehemently opposed to the idea of the Zangezur Corridor, is now (publicly) enthusiastically embracing it. Internationally, the route is interesting because it would add a second option to cross the Caucasus region by rail on the Middle Corridor. Currently, trains can make their way west only via the Baku – Tbilisi – Kars railway through Georgia.
However, for Armenia, there is more at play, according to Mirzoyan. “The idea is much larger than that. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to unblock the transport communications between themselves, and here we speak about the whole infrastructure. For instance, Armenia gets access to the Azerbaijani railway system, Azerbaijan gets access to the Armenian railway system, and later, roads and other infrastructure.”
Arch enemies
It reflects a normalisation of relations between two arch enemies that have fought two wars in the past five years. “We can use each other’s infrastructure like normal neighbours do, for instance, in Europe or elsewhere.” That would mean that Armenia could use Azerbaijani infrastructure to trade with Europe, for example.
The Zangezur Corridor will officially be operated as TRIPP – the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. The agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan was, after all, signed in the White House, so US President Donald Trump has made sure to leave his mark on the deal.
Armenian-American consortium
“Armenia and the United States are going to create a consortium, a company, which will be the constructor and the main operator of the railway passage. This consortium, in its turn, can hire a third company or companies to implement this or that, or provide this or that service for the whole passage. Also, this consortium can handle, can build and then operate pipelines, electricity cables, et cetera”, Mirzoyan explained.
Washington and Yerevan have agreed on the main principles of the project, added Mirzoyan. There is still technical work to do. “So we already started discussions with our American counterparts. I assume we can finalise this process in the coming months, and then construction should take place.”