WASHINGTON — In a new interview with The Hill, NewsNation International Correspondent Robert Sherman spoke with Armenian Ambassador Narek Mkrtchyan to the United States to discuss trade relations, the future of Armenia, and the major peace deal brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the one-year anniversary of the Washington Peace Declaration. (Editor’s note: The interview below is a raw transcript of the video interview and may contain grammatical errors.)
On the first anniversary of one of the major peace deals brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan:
“It’s my pleasure to speak about the first anniversary of the peace. You know, last year at the White House, President Trump broke a peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And we call this historic because, you know, after three decades, now Armenia and Azerbaijan and region is in peace. And we live in a peaceful situation, which is very appreciated by both people of Armenia and Azerbaijan. And when we talk to our people saying that, you know, this piece is a very important precondition for a prosperity, now taking into consideration the projects, the bilateral project that we have with US, it like comes to prove that really this was precondition and still continuing to be precondition for a prosperity. Just after like Washington piece declaration, we signed a couple of documents and literally put three months after signing these documents we got approval for biggest tech projects in Armenia by NVIDIA for example the AI factory project which is a $4-billion project in Armenia and now a lot of new prospects are opening after this peace deal. But also the piece that became important for bilateral relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Of course, peace cannot come overnight after signing one document; [it] is a process. And I can say that the process is really progressing. So we don’t have diplomatic relation with Azerbaijan. We don’t have like the established embassies etc., we don’t have final peace sign[ed] but we have peace. We have actual peace, we are doing trade. We are buying some stuff from Azerbaijan [and Azerbaijan] is considering to buy some stuff from Armenia, so this is actually something which will be leading to the ultimate peace and this is only thanks to Washington Declaration that we signed last year. I hope that in very near future we can make real progress and have final peace deal and to build future together in our region.”
On where he envisions Armenia sitting between the two major world powers, Moscow and Washington, in the years ahead:
“Of course, there is a movement, but that movement is about Armenian sovereignty, Armenia’s independence, more strong sovereignty and more strong independence. And this is also the movement about the diversification. After all, we announced that Armenia will be diversifying …. And so this process also should be considered [under] the lens of diversification. So we started the diversification of Armenia, so diversification of procurement, diversification of supply chain, diversification of economic partnerships, diversification of security partnership. And you know when Vice President JD Vance visited Armenia, key three deliverables, like the signing of the Declaration on Energy Partnership, partnership on AI, critical technologies, and also about the first procurement defense technologies, like sophisticated drone technologies that the Vice President brought with him to Armenia. These are about the diversification. And you know, diversification is important for more strong sovereignty, because when you are dependent on one country, you are less independent, but when you are dependent on several actors, it means that your sovereignty and your independence are more strong. And you know, one of the uniqueness of President Trump’s brokered peace is that it respects the three principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and jurisdiction. These are guaranteed in the Washington Peace Declaration. That’s why we consider this is an important step towards the diversification of Armenia, and also towards more sovereign and more independent Armenia. And behind these discussions, there is a project called TRIPP, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which is the main project behind peace, I would say, and the main project which will change all the geo-economy of the region and which will be playing a key role in bridging different regions like Central Asia, South Texas and Europe together with this 42 kilometer road passing to Armenia.”
On trade routes opening up from east to west that circumvent Russia and Iran, creating new avenues for trade and how that could change the South Caucasus’ role in regional trade:
