The top priority, goal, and mission of Armenia’s foreign ministry — and foreign policy, in general — is to create a peaceful and secure environment around the Republic of Armenia — one that promotes the country’s development and prosperity, Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated today during the debates on the draft law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2026” in the National Assembly.

“In this regard, it’s apparent that the primary role belongs to normalizing of relations with our neighbors, first and foremost to further institutionalizing of the established peace with Azerbaijan, discussing the remaining issues, achieving a comprehensive settlement.

When we talk about future forming or the institutionalization of established peace, peaceful environment around Armenia, we cannot fail to mention perhaps the most pivotal foreign policy event of this year — that is, the declaration signed and the inter-state normalization treaty initialed between the prime minister of Armenia and the president of Azerbaijan on August 8 in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump. Yes, I can call without hesitation, without exaggeration what happened that day in Washington a turning point,” Mirzoyan added, in particular.

He noted that the Washington agreements include major infrastructural elements: “It is extremely important to note that this is about a major unblocking. Armenia has been under blockade [by Azerbaijan] for over 30 years, and now the two countries have agreed to unblock or, if necessary, construct new infrastructure, transportation infrastructure between them. This primarily means the unblocking of Armenia for us. Of course, these efforts to unblock also include the Azerbaijan–Nakhichevan connection. Moreover, the infrastructure to be used for that connection will also be operated and used by the Republic of Armenia.

So, what are the principles under which or within which this great unblocking will take place? Again, the principles are well-known: territorial integrity, recognition of the inviolability of borders, respect for sovereignty and jurisdiction, and the principle of reciprocity is also preserved.

We remember the months, years of talk about the fact that these infrastructures will be handed over to the control of a third country. There were countries that were discussed as candidate countries that would deploy security or military forces in the direction of these infrastructures. Here we see that all these manipulations have also evaporated.

Within the same Washington framework, within the framework of agreements, Armenia and the US have agreed to jointly establish and make efforts to implement the Trump Route. This will essentially be the Armenian-American company that will manage, build, operate this link. This may include not only railway communication, but also power lines, [natural] gas pipelines, oil pipelines, etc.,” stated the Armenian foreign minister.