Armenia, U.S. sign comprehensive strategic partnership charter, other documents

YEREVAN. May 26 (Interfax) - Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents at a meeting in Yerevan.

In particular, Mirzoyan and Rubio initialed the framework agreement on the strategic partnership in the TRIPP project, the Armenian-U.S. comprehensive strategic partnership charter, and the framework memorandum on the provision of supplies in the extraction and processing of critical minerals and rare earths.

The comprehensive strategic relations between Armenia and the United States "are now stronger than ever," Mirzoyan said after the signing ceremony. "We have entered a historically unprecedented phase. Every agreement reached with the United States is advantageous to Armenia and will unlock unprecedented opportunities for the country," Mirzoyan said.

In turn, Rubio said that the agreement on strategic cooperation in the TRIPP project "marks the biggest step to date on making this historic route a reality on advancing peace and on increasing prosperity in Armenia and frankly in a region."

"But our relationship is not simply limited to TRIPP. We are building upon that in so many different ways," he said.

"The memorandum of understanding on critical minerals is also going to further enhance mutual prosperity. [...] Not just access to these minerals, but the ability to process and refine them to be usable goods is critical to the future, for prosperity. Countries that are able to do that are going to be able to find economic independence and are going to be able to find themselves at the center of innovation in the 21st century. We are going to be able to work together to make sure that both of our countries, both of our economies are going to have reliable access to these critical minerals," he said.

Rubio ended his visit after the press statements and left Yerevan.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, U.S. President Donald Trump and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a declaration in August 2025, saying that Yerevan will be working together with Washington and certain third countries on the framework of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) project on Armenian territory. The project envisages the construction of road, rail and oil-and-gas infrastructure. The TRIPP will connect the main part of Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic via Armenia along a 42-kilometer road, and then farther on to Turkey.

Representatives of the U.S. engineering and consulting company AECOM started examining the TRIPP project area in Armenia in May. The AECOM team came to Yerevan on behalf of the U.S. Department of State's Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.