Lavrov: reopening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan is being resolved in view of interests of all interested parties, including Russia, Turkey and Iran
YEREVAN, May 11. /ARKA/. The issue of reopening of transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan is being resolved in view of the interests of all interested parties, including Russia, Turkey and Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday in Baku.
He said the trilateral working group chaired by the deputy prime ministers of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan is working to identify concrete ways to unblock transport and economic ties, which will allow the South Caucasian states to create together with their neighbors a single logistic space.
“We highly appreciate the work of the trilateral group who are working very productively and we have every reason to believe that in the near future we will receive the first results of its work,” said Lavrov.
For his part, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov noted that preparatory work is going on quite intensively, but there is a large amount of technical work.
According to him, from the point of view of economic opportunities, the opening of communications will benefit not only Azerbaijan and Armenia, but also other countries of the region, which makes the process of peaceful settlement of Karabakh conflict irreversible.
“We should pay more attention to this clause of the agreement. I am sure that in the near future there will be a concrete decision and we will see the start of work on a number of routes. A lot of preparatory work was done, I do not want to name specific routes so as not to create additional tension for someone, but taking into account the results of the monitoring group, which was sent by the Russian partners, they studied the situation along certain routes in Azerbaijan and Armenia,” said Bayramov.
On January 11, 2021, the Presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan Vladimir Putin and Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint statement in Moscow aimed at developing the region and unblocking all transport communications.
The working group is chaired by Mher Grigoryan (Armenia), Alexey Overchuk (Russia) and Shahin Mustafayev (Azerbaijan). It has already had several meetings. One of its tasks is to take stock of international treaties concluded within the CIS and with third countries on the implementation of transportation in the region and ensuring appropriate control.
The rail and road links between Azerbaijan's exclave Nakhichevan and the rest of Azerbaijan are to pass through southeastern Armenian province of Syunik. Armenia is supposed for its part to use Azerbaijani territory as a transit route for cargo shipments to and from Russia.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the parties stopped at where they were at that time. The town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
