Overview
- Vice President JD Vance and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a U.S.–Armenia civilian nuclear cooperation declaration under a ‘123’ framework that enables legal exports of American nuclear technology.
- Vance said potential initial U.S. nuclear exports could reach up to $5 billion, with roughly $4 billion more in long-term fuel and maintenance contracts, as Armenia weighs competing reactor bids that include U.S., Russian, Chinese, French and South Korean offers.
- In Baku, Vance and President Ilham Aliyev signed a bilateral strategic partnership, with Vance announcing U.S. plans to deliver new ships to help protect Azerbaijan’s territorial waters and pledging deeper defense cooperation.
- Vance promoted the proposed TRIPP corridor linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave across Armenian territory; a January memorandum reported by FAZ envisions a U.S.–Armenian joint venture to operate the route with a 74% U.S. stake.
- The trip was punctuated by the deletion of a Vance X post referring to the Armenian Genocide memorial; his office called it a staff error and the White House said there is no change in policy on the terminology.