TRIPP Is a Logical Extension of the Middle Corridor

Kazakhstan views the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, as a natural extension of the Middle Corridor that could shorten transport routes to European markets by around 1,000 kilometers, a senior representative of President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said in New York. Erzhan Kazykhan, Representative of the President of Kazakhstan for Negotiations with the United States, made the remarks at the 7th Caspian Business Forum, organized by the Caspian Policy Center in New York on September 22. “For Kazakhstan, it’s not simply a transport route. It’s a strategic investment into our future,” Kazykhan said of the Middle Corridor. “It is a platform for connectivity with the South Caucasus, Türkiye, and Europe.” “Kazakhstan sees TRIPP as a logical extension of the Middle Corridor,” he said, explaining that the route would shorten Kazakhstan’s access to European markets by hundreds of kilometers. TRIPP was announced at the White House summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan on August 8, 2025. The planned multimodal route would cross Armenian territory under Armenian sovereignty and jurisdiction, connecting mainland Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave and adding another link to the Trans-Caspian trade network. Kazakhstan Examines Role in TRIPP Kazykhan said Kazakhstan has sent a technical assessment team to examine what role the country could play and is considering participation in construction connected with TRIPP. He placed that interest alongside Kazakhstan’s own investment in transport. Over the past 15 years, he said, the country has invested about $35 billion in the sector and built more than 2,500 kilometers of new mainline railway. The government plans another 5,000 kilometers over the next four years. Kazykhan said the next challenge is making the infrastructure work as a single route, including smoother border crossings and enough long-term financing. Kyrgyzstan’s Minister of Economy and Commerce, Bakyt Sydykov, also argued against treating new routes as competing national projects. He said TRIPP, the Trans-Caspian route, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway and other corridors should operate as parts of the same regional logistics system. “The Middle Corridor must become an economic corridor, not only a transit corridor,” Sydykov said. He argued that countries such as Kyrgyzstan should capture more value from the trade moving through the region, pointing to logistics centers, warehouses, processing facilities, digital customs systems and industrial development around the routes. Financing remains another issue. Sydykov said governments could not fund all of the required infrastructure themselves. Mark Cameron, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, said the newly operational Trans-Caspian Enterprise Fund is designed to use U.S. government grant resources to establish the commercial viability of projects and help attract additional private investment. Connecting the Routes Türkiye’s Deputy Foreign Minister Berris Ekinci described TRIPP as complementary to the Middle Corridor rather than a rival route. “TRIPP shouldn’t be viewed as a separate or competing corridor,” she said. Ekinci said its importance would depend on how it connects with existing railway, road and port infrastructure. She described the Middle Corridor as the main east-west backbone, with TRIPP potentially filling a longstanding...

Why Central Asia Cares About the Middle Corridor–South Caucasus TRIPP Route

Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on March 11 and said he has no intention of delaying TRIPP, the newly proposed South Caucasus route through southern Armenia to be integrated into the existing Middle Corridor. He described the project as being “in the crystallization stage,” said that the Armenia–U.S. implementation framework (signed on 13 January) was already in place, and added that the two countries will “[i]n the near future ... sign the relevant agreements, and the practical implementation of the project will begin.” While mentioning that developments in Iran and the wider Middle East could shade an otherwise positive regional picture, Pashinyan explicitly did not connect that to any actual delay in the corridor project. This accords with the view of the EU itself, which treats the Middle Corridor and its South Caucasus segment, as does the World Bank, as an increasingly necessary connection between Central Asia and Europe through the South Caucasus and Turkey. Pashinyan’s statement should thereby reassure not just European governments but also the investors and shippers that want and need the route. From Declaration to Implementation Pashinyan tied TRIPP to the Washington Declaration of August 8, especially to its provisions on reopening communications and establishing a U.S.-supported framework for unimpeded connectivity between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan through Armenian territory. The Washington meeting produced a joint declaration by Armenia and Azerbaijan and the text of the initialed peace agreement, while also making clear that signing and ratification still lay ahead. In Strasbourg, according to Pashinyan's own words, the Washington Declaration “essentially established peace” between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He also gave pertinent indicators. Pashinyan stated there had been eight months of complete peace on the border and that 2025 was the first full calendar year since independence without casualties or injuries from Armenian–Azerbaijani shooting. He also said that in November 2025, for the first time since independence, a train (carrying wheat from Kazakhstan) reached Armenia through Azerbaijan and Georgia after Azerbaijan lifted restrictions on that rail route. Azerbaijan has since sent fuel and other commodities through Georgia to Armenia. Such transits have now become a regular occurrence. Since 2020, Armenia has turned toward Central Asia as part of its effort to reduce dependence on Russia. Kazakhstan has become the clearest practical partner in that effort as this turn has accentuated in recent months. During Pashinyan’s 21 November 2025 visit to Astana, the two sides upgraded relations to a strategic partnership and signed 15 intergovernmental and interagency documents, including a trade and economic roadmap for 2026–2030 that projects cooperation in agriculture, digitalization, healthcare, industry, science and education, and peaceful uses of atomic energy. While the cooperation with Kazakhstan is a continuation of previous trends, the sharpest diplomatic change is with Uzbekistan. After Pashinyan’s 12 July 2023 telephone call with President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, stressing the need to convene the first intergovernmental commission to move practical projects forward, that commission met in Tashkent on 3–4 August 2023, with a modest but real result in...