Lays Out Roadmap for Future U.S. Relations with the South Caucuses and Central Asia
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines today delivered the keynote address at the Hudson Institute’s conference on the future of U.S. engagement in the South Caucasus.
Watch his remarks here.
Read Daines’ remarks as prepared for delivery below.
Thank you to the Hudson Institute for inviting me to be here with you all today, and to Mike Dolan for that introduction.
For more than 60 years the Hudson Institute has stood at the forefront of policy battles here in Washington and I am grateful for your work as both a resource to members and staff on the Hill and also the media and other thought leaders around DC.
As we turn our attention to foreign policy today, it really is an almost surreal time to address you all. There’s an old saying, “one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.”
That saying could describe Washington and the world with Donald Trump as President of the United States.
As I have often said, “Every hour is a new day in Washington.”
Just look at his accomplishments so far on the world stage: peace agreements between Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Of course the monumental achievement over the past few weeks of getting the living Israeli hostages out of Gaza. Not to mention the Abraham Accords from his first term.
But what I want to focus on today is an agreement many didn’t see coming and that’s the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
It caught many of the Beltway media by surprise. Punchbowl was talking about it on their podcast the morning it was signed and were in complete shock.
They went so far as to say that the CODELs we take are a joke and just couldn’t believe we could lay the groundwork for a major peace agreement on the solo CODEL I took to the region.
It’s always great to prove the cynical Beltway media wrong so let me tell you how it happened and then focus on the future of American involvement in the South Caucasus, and the opportunities the region holds.
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To understand the magnitude of the recent Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement, we must first briefly look to the historical context of the conflict.
The two sides have been locked in a state of conflict since the late 1980s, with multiple wars and very little progress on reconciliation.
The initial conflict between the two sides lasted from 1988 to 1994, and nine additional active conflicts from 2008 to 2023.
The Soviet Union, and subsequently Russia, typically acted as the regional power broker and purposefully prolonged the conflict to maintain their control and influence over the region by ensuring that both countries could not achieve their own goals and were instead stuck in a cycle of violence.
Every President since H.W. Bush pursued their own peace initiatives, trying to find a resolution to the issue, but all came up short.
Some did not properly resource or prioritize the talks, while others simply could not get the two sides to see eye to eye.
That brings us to this year, when the Trump administration prioritized finding peace in the South Caucasus; with members of his team engaging both sides of the conflict from the beginning of the year.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has diverted Putin’s attention and pulled Russian resources further west and provided an opening for greater American involvement and influence.
Armenia and Azerbaijan countries shed the yoke of Russian coercion and turned toward an independent future in partnership with the United States.
Steve Witkoff’s team was immediately on the ground, tackling the thorniest issues in the deal head-on.
Previous negotiation efforts tried to separate out individual issues, creating an incredibly complex diplomatic network and unintentionally downplaying the complexities of the region.
This administration tackled the negotiations with a holistic approach, recognizing that each issue is connected to the other, and that their resolutions are mutually reinforcing, not exclusive.
American negotiators came up with the innovative concept of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, or TRIPP, which would connect Azerbaijan to its exclave Nakhchivan while creating a new trade route that Armenia, Azerbaijan, and other regional states would benefit from.
The connection between the two had long been the trickiest aspect of peace talks, and the TRIPP was a completely new way of framing a solution that was amenable to both sides.
I traveled to the region in May of this year, in the middle of the Trump administration-brokered negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
At the time peace was certainly not guaranteed and negotiations were still fragile.
Decades of conflict had taken a toll on trust between the two countries, and while talks were progressing, they were not quite complete.
While in the region, I met with both President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan.
I traveled with members of my team, embassy officials, as well as some administration staff.
Our meetings offered an opportunity to present a fresh perspective on the negotiations, a perspective both leaders seemed eager to hear.
They both sincerely wanted to resolve this conflict permanently.
They both saw the opportunities the future could hold, and that the violence had to end before they could pursue those opportunities.
We were able to discuss practical solutions to intractable problems that had plagued the peace talks for decades prior.
Both Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev have demonstrated tremendous courage and fortitude throughout this process, putting their reputations and legacies on the line in pursuit of peace.
Their courage combined with President Trump and his team’s creative diplomacy and problem solving have brought us to where we stand today.
On that same trip, I also traveled to the third nation of the South Caucasus: Georgia.
While in Tbilisi, I met with members of both the ruling Georgian Dream party as well as the opposition.
The message I delivered to them was that any antagonism between our countries could end tomorrow.
That visit provided a remarkable split screen: Armenia and Azerbaijan have chosen to work with the United States to build the multilateral framework that will propel their nations into the future, while Georgia has unfortunately moved in the wrong direction in recent years.
The United States stands ready to work with Georgia to provide a better future for their people.
Both leaders were receptive to my message, but there have since been some negative developments.
The Trump administration is right to push Georgia to behave responsibly, but I would continue to stress to Georgia that our relations need not continue down the track they are on now.
There is no reason Georgia cannot be a part of the newly emerging regional partnership and benefit the same as its neighbors, all they need to do is reach out and grasp the United States’ outstretched hand and redouble their commitment to a pluralistic, democratic governance system.
That brings us to August 8th, when both Aliyev and Pashinyan traveled to Washington to sign an agreement and joint declaration on peace in the South Caucasus.
I was in attendance on that momentous day.
The agreement is not the end of the road for this process but instead offers a roadmap for the future.
It outlines the principles of peace, commitments both sides have made, and the U.S.’s role as the deal’s guarantor.
Now that the deal has been signed, the U.S. can get to work with our partners on implementation.
Unsurprisingly, the Trump administration is moving quickly, they have already provided $145 million in funding for development in Armenia, and more will come as needed.
The United States is making hard dollar, concrete investments in regional peace that will benefit all our countries.
The economic potential as a result of this deal is massive.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have considerable natural wealth in their own rights; Baku is one of the world’s most important gas and oil exporters with infrastructure carrying their product all the way across Turkey to Europe, while Armenia has major copper, lead, zinc, antimony, and other critical mineral deposits.
Azerbaijan has also been an integral partner to Israel, providing much of the gas they use to power their economy, ensuring steady energy flows through its direct confrontation with Iran.
Armenia’s “Crossroads of Peace” initiative is also promising, seeking to make major infrastructure investments to better connect the Caucasus, Middle East, and Central Asia to Western markets.
Further to the East, Central Asia’s riches for the first time have hope for a Central Corridor, an unimpeded path to travel west, allowing European and American firms to make longer-term investments with the certainty of long-term transport capability.
Central Asia’s energy, mineral, and agricultural wealth can help strengthen fragile supply chains to the West, offering new sources for the building blocks of national power and economic growth.
These resources can also support the nations they pass through and provide steady revenues to both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Today’s environment offers a new opportunity to complete the last 20 miles of the long-theorized Trans-Caspian interconnector pipeline, bringing Turkmenistan’s gas west through existing pipeline infrastructure and to significantly reduce, or potentially end, Europe’s reliance on Russian gas.
The Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement is a diplomatic breakthrough and an instance of truly mutually beneficial peacemaking.
Through innovative problem solving, courageous commitment to peace, and dogged determination, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the United States are collectively walking towards a new, more prosperous, more secure future.
Decades ago, Jimmy Carter’s National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzesinski dreamed of uncorking the riches of the Caspian Basin, and this deal gets us one step closer to that goal.
All it took was a determined President and a team of talented diplomats to get it done.
Gone are the days of endless negotiations and empty promises; American diplomacy is back under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Rubio.
I look forward to continuing to work towards finalizing this peace agreement and to bringing that bright future to fruition.
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Gabby Wiggins