The peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia captured global headlines in 2025. Less visible, but arguably more important for regional commerce, is the business vehicle now taking shape to build and operate the transport link at the heart of that deal, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, widely referenced as the Zangezur corridor.
From Peace Deal to Business Plan
In January 2026, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced an implementation framework for the route. It calls for a new entity, the TRIPP Development Company, to manage the corridor. For an initial 49 year term the United States will hold 74 percent of the company and Armenia will hold 26 percent, with the Armenian share set to rise toward 49 percent if the arrangement is extended. Crucially, Armenia retains full authority over border and customs operations, and officials in Yerevan have stressed that sovereignty over the route is absolute and not open to negotiation.
How the Corridor Will Be Built
The company will develop and operate a package of infrastructure, including rail and road links, energy lines and fiber optic networks, and it will manage revenue from transit fees for decades. Private operators hired by the company would handle customer facing services and fee collection, while Armenian officials keep a physical presence at all border facilities. The Armenian section runs about 42 kilometers and will connect to the Horadiz and Aghband railway now under construction on the Azerbaijani side. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said the two sides aim to settle final terms in the first half of 2026 and to begin construction in the second half of the year.
A Bridge for the Turkic World
For the Turkic republics, the corridor is transformational. It restores a direct link between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave, and it extends onward into the Turkish rail network, creating a continuous overland route from Central Asia through the Caucasus to Türkiye and Europe. That places the Zangezur corridor firmly within the broader Middle Corridor, the trade network that moves goods across the Caspian between Europe and Asia while bypassing more contested northern routes. Analysts also point to the region’s copper, molybdenum and other mineral reserves, which add further commercial appeal to the project.
Groundbreaking on the Horizon
Azerbaijan aims to complete its section by the end of 2026, and President Ilham Aliyev has suggested the full corridor could open by 2028. American involvement gives the project long term political backing and a commercial governance model that reassures investors, even as Russia and Iran watch the shifting balance with unease. If construction begins on schedule, the TRIPP Development Company will become the operating engine of one of the most strategically valuable trade arteries in Eurasia, and a tangible symbol of expanding American commercial presence across the Turkic world. Regional governments see the corridor as a catalyst for new logistics parks, warehousing and cross border services that could create thousands of jobs along the route, while international shippers would gain a reliable southern path between Asia and Europe that shortens transit times and reduces dependence on any single country. Much now depends on the two sides meeting their 2026 milestones.
