A U.S.-brokered deal to end a decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan will include a new trade and transit corridor named for President Donald Trump, the White House has said.
The agreement between the two nations will create a major trade and transit corridor called the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.” It will connect mainland Azerbaijan with the autonomous Nakhchivan region, satisfying a major objective of the Azerbaijani government in the peace talks between the countries.
The two European nations have been in conflict for decades.
White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the deal will create a “roadmap” that will “build a cooperative future that benefits both countries, their region of the South Caucasus and beyond” by allowing “unimpeded connectivity between the two countries while respecting Armenia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people.”
Trump announced plans for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to visit the White House Friday to sign the peace agreement as well as individual bilateral agreements with the United States to “pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.”
Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump boasted of his role in reaching the agreement between the longtime enemy nations.
“Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to ‘TRUMP,’” Trump said.
The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s.
The president is fond of naming things after himself, and has delighted in efforts by members of Congress to rename various Washington landmarks after him and his family members.
But in this case, the White House maintains he was not the primary advocate of lending Trumpian eponymity to the new peace corridor.
One senior administration official who briefed reporters on the plan said it was Armenian officials who broached the idea.
“It was the Armenians who came and said, ‘that's why we're going to call the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.’ This isn't just about Armenia. It's not just about Azerbaijan. It's about the entire region, and they know that that region is going to be safer and more prosperous with President Trump,” the official said.
