Reuters. When U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House on Friday, the meeting will culminate in the signing of a peace framework that includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit route through the South Caucasus, officials told Reuters.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are to join Trump at the White House for talks and the signing ceremony, the U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They are to sign a framework aimed at reaching a "concrete pathway to peace" and addressing a long-simmering transit issue, the officials said.
Under a carefully negotiated section of the documents the leaders will sign on Friday, Armenia plans to award the United States exclusive special development rights for an extended period on a transit route that will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, and known by the acronym TRIPP, the officials said.
The route will be operated according to Armenian law and the United States will sublease the land to a consortium for infrastructure and management, the officials said.
"Through commercial means, this step will unlock the region and avert further hostilities," one of the officials said.
