Armenia proposes compromise solutions to unblock region's communications - Pashinyan
Armenia has presented compromise solutions for opening transport links in the region, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Russian Sochi, the venue of a series of meetings of heads of several former Soviet republics, which make the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
YEREVAN, June 7. /ARKA/. Armenia has presented compromise solutions for opening transport links in the region, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said today at a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in Russian Sochi, the venue of a series of meetings of heads of several former Soviet republics, which make the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
"I would like to once again express Armenia's readiness to open regional economic and transport communications based on the principle of sovereignty, jurisdiction of those parties through which these communications pass. This applies to those communications, which are outlined in the ninth point of the trilateral statement of the Prime Minister of Armenia and the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan. I hope we will be able to come to concrete solutions," Pashinyan said.
He pointed out that the Armenian side has unveiled concrete proposals and hopes that they will be adopted. "These are the compromise solutions that we have worked out over the last 2 years," Pashinyan said.
According to earlier reports, deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan reached an understanding on the steps to restore the Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway connection during the 12th trilateral working group’s meeting in Moscow on June 3.
According to the estimates of the Armenian Ministry of Economy, the construction of Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railroad may cost $1.2 billion. The construction of the 43-km long railway section through Armenian Meghri may require about $200 million.
If this plan succeeds, Armenia will get access to Iran and Russia through this railroad, and Azerbaijan will get a railway connection with Nakhichevan through Armenia.
Yeraskh is a settlement in Armenia's Ararat region bordering Nakhichevan; Meghri is a town in Syunik (south of Armenia, bordering Iran and Azerbaijan). Sadarak, Julfa, Ordubad and Horadiz are towns in Azerbaijan.
On January 17, 22 the government of Nikol Pashinyan appointed a ten-member working group to handle the reconstruction of the railway tracks connecting Yeraskh (Ararat province of Armenia) and the northwestern tip of Azerbaijan’s Nakhichevan exclave. The 10-member working group was led by Artashes Tumanyan, a former ambassador to Iran. Tumanyan was to report on the progress of the work to the Prime Minister every three months.-0-
