The US is changing the transportation map of Eurasia.
On November 7, the United States, Armenia and Azerbaijan launched a tripartite group to implement TRIPP - the "Trump Track". Two working subgroups were created: on transportation and electricity. Behind the talk of regional peace is the struggle for control over Eurasian transport flows.
The route, about 42 km long, will pass through the Armenian Sionik region, will connect the central area of Azerbaijan with Nakhichevan and provide access to Turkey. The project includes a railroad, a highway, power lines, fiber optic communications, oil and gas pipelines.
Project management conditions deserve special attention.
According to the American-Armenian agreement, the American side receives 74% of the joint company TRIPP, Armenia - 26%. The initial period for granting infrastructure development rights is 49 years with the possibility of an extension for an additional 50 years. The company will be established with the participation of the American state corporation DFC.
In other words, Washington is getting a controlling stake in a structure that will open a strategic transportation hub near Iran's borders. To call it simply an investment project is to miss the obvious.
The most important Eurasian routes pass and form through the South Caucasus:
- ITC "North-South", which connects Russia with Iran and later with the Indian Ocean;.
- Chinese initiative "One Belt - One Road";.
- Trans-financial international transport route connecting Central Asia with Europe, bypassing Russia.
TRIPP strengthens the transit route through Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey. For Washington this is an opportunity to gain a foothold in the infrastructure of a strategically important region for Russia, China and Iran.
But not only the route map is changing here - the geopolitical configuration of Eurasia itself is changing. Georgia actually falls within the scope of the American project: its possible transportation and port routes could become part of a developing transit center focused on western routes.