The industrialization of Armenia is deeply connected with the opening of regional communications, said acting PM Nikol Pashinyan at a meeting with his supporters in Abaran, reports Armenpress & Sputnik Armenia.
“In this regard, the statements of the Azerbaijani leadership are rather strange. Why are they strange? Because we adopted the well-known declaration of November 9, where there is a point about the opening of communications, and in the Moscow statement of January 19, which has been published, we actually commented on how to implement those points on opening the communications,” said Pashinyan.
Pashinyan said “the Armenian side has no problems with open roads, but the word ‘corridor’ does not exist in either of the statements. Therefore, I want to clearly say once again, we have never formally or non-formally discussed anything about corridors or exchange of territories, I mean Meghri, which is much discussed topic,” Pashinyan said.
“By unblocking transport communications, first of all, we are talking about the reopening of the railways that existed during the Soviet Union,” said Pashinyan
Pashinyan said he considers the unblocking and reopening of the railways a first priority, adding that the unblocking of automobile highways is a question of the future, at the moment there is no clarity on it, as well as an exchange of views. It is a matter of the future. In the first stage, we build the railways.
“It’s extremely important for us that Armenia gets an operating railway connection with Iran and Russia,” emphasized Pashinyan.
Pashinyan noted that “Armenia and Azerbaijan have special opinions and reservations on a number of issues in the CIS agreements. Pashinyan did not rule out that these reservations could be withdrawn in order to launch the cargo transportation process that meets international standards,” said Pashinyan, adding that “the railway communication must comply with international standards for movement within the framework of agreements ratified by the CIS,” Pashinyan said.
Pashinyan’s recalled that the unblocking of regional communications is stated in a joint statement by the leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, signed on January 11, 2021 following the talks in Moscow. For the purpose of negotiations, a tripartite working group was created at the level of deputy prime ministers.
