Armenia signs cooperation agreement with US as election nears | Political Affairs

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who has fostered ties with the US, faces challenges from anti-Russian parties in the upcoming elections.

Armenia has signed the Strategic Partnership Agreement promote cooperation and the United States, with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan facing challenges from pro-Russian parties in the country’s upcoming elections in June.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenia’s Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan, also signed an agreement on mineral resources and economic cooperation. way through in the Armenian capital of Yerevan on Tuesday.

“This agreement is the biggest step to date in making this historic initiative a reality, advancing peace, and expanding prosperity in Armenia and the region,” Rubio said at the signing ceremony at Yerevan airport.

The 43-km (27-mile) road, called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), will pass through southern Armenia and provide Azerbaijan it is a direct route to Nakhchivan and to Turkiye, Baku’s close friend.

Pashinyan wants intimate relationships and the US and Europe, angering their former ally Russia. Moscow has said that it may increase the price of gas that Armenia receives from Russia if it continues to be closely connected with the West.

Armenia used to have close security and economic ties to Russia, but Yerevan began to turn to the West for cooperation after the 2023 war in Azerbaijan’s Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Russia, which is waging its own war in Ukraine, has not intervened in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, which has a majority Armenian population and has been independent since the 1990s.

Last year, the United States and Armenia held joint military exercises for the first time.

“I want to confirm once again that the bilateral relations between the two countries are stronger than before,” Mirzoyan said of relations with the US on Tuesday.

The administration of the US President, Donald Trump, in turn, placed its relations with Yerevan mainly in the economic sphere and asked for concessions in areas such as complex mining.

“We’re laying the foundation for the kind of economy that allows Armenians to earn and earn and Americans to do the same and do it together, which is one of the strongest forms of nation-building,” Rubio said Tuesday.

The US Department of State’s plan for transportation, part a peace treaty signed by Armenia and Azerbaijan last August, it also gave the US a 74 percent stake in the “TRIPP Development Company”, with a clear promise to benefit US companies.