In an interview with the Azerbaijani news agency Trend, leading research fellow at IAIS Dr. Khayotjon Ibragimov emphasized that the TRIPP initiative (Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity) could become an important tool for reducing investment risks in Central Asia.
According to him, this project should be viewed not only as a logistics route, but also as a kind of “financial shield” for the Middle Corridor, since American patronage effectively acts as insurance for Western capital and makes infrastructure projects in the region more attractive and affordable in terms of financing costs.
The expert also noted that the visit of US Vice President Jay D. Vance to Baku signaled Washington's transition from declarative rhetoric to pragmatic action in the Caspian region. In his opinion, US policy toward Central Asia is based on energy and critical minerals: Washington seeks to weaken China's monopoly on rare earth metal supply chains, while Uzbekistan, which has significant reserves of copper, uranium, and lithium, has the opportunity to attract American deep processing technologies instead of relying on a raw material export model.
In the long term, Dr. Ibragimov believes that cooperation will develop around “resource pragmatism,” including increased investment in geological exploration and the possible promotion of American small modular reactors (SMRs) in the nuclear energy sector.
* The Institute for Advanced International Studies (IAIS) does not take institutional positions on any issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IAIS.
