Armenia’s opposition “Armenia” faction will vote against ratifying the Strategic Partnership Framework Agreement with the United States under the TRIPP project, Armenpress reported. Faction leader Anna Grigoryan claimed the document’s substance reflects Azerbaijan’s interests.
The opposition “Armenia” faction in Armenia’s parliament says it will oppose ratification of the Strategic Partnership Framework Agreement signed with the United States as part of the TRIPP project. According to Armenpress, the statement was made by faction leader and lawmaker Anna Grigoryan during parliamentary debates on the document.
Grigoryan said her faction had doubts about the economic benefits the agreement supposedly promises Armenia, the opening of transport and communication corridors, and how the principle of mutual exchange between the parties would actually be implemented, the agency reported.
Grigoryan points to Azerbaijan
The lawmaker argued that while the agreement is formally a bilateral deal between Armenia and the United States, its contents point to a different reality. Armenpress quoted Grigoryan as saying: “Formally, this is considered an agreement between two states… But in reality, there is a third actor behind it — Azerbaijan.”
The faction leader stressed that Azerbaijan’s interests are spelled out in the document more clearly than Armenia’s. According to her, the project would give the United States a military-political presence near the Iranian border, while Azerbaijan would gain the ability to connect its main territory with the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. Armenpress reported that Grigoryan questioned what equivalent benefits Armenia would receive in return.
The agency said the lawmaker also raised questions about how the border and customs regime would be structured, asking whether the same conditions would apply to the flow of people and goods crossing both Armenian and Azerbaijani territory. She added that it was essential to produce precise calculations of the revenue Armenia stands to gain from the project.
