Armenia Will Not Discuss Corridor Issues, Says Mher Grigoryan

According to the points of the announcement made on January 11, 2021, extensive analytical and research work has been carried out by the expert subgroups created to identify technically feasible and efficient options for railway and automotive transport, while also considering the necessary functions for organizing and implementing security, border, customs, and other types of control.

In response to Tert.am's inquiry about what Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev meant when he said that the Armenian side is studying issues related to the "inevitability of the Zangezur corridor," Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan stated the following:

"In the context of unblocking transport links in the region, the organization of border, customs, and other types of controls related to international transport is currently being studied within the frameworks of the regulatory legal base of the CIS, as well as other multilateral international agreements and conventions to which the Republic of Armenia is a party. In this context, the potential impact and economic effects of possible connections with the transport infrastructures and routes of other countries in the region are being assessed. At this moment, the most visible possibilities are considered to be the restoration of the rail infrastructure and routes that operated during the Soviet era and the possibility of carrying out freight transportation on equal terms and conditions. I believe that if the trilateral working group's activities continue in the near future, they will expand around these possibilities.

In the ongoing work on unblocking regional transport links, we again emphasize that issues based on a "corridor" logic have not been discussed and will not be discussed by the Republic of Armenia," he said in response.

It should be noted that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that the Armenian side is studying issues related to the "inevitability of the Zangezur corridor." According to Minval.az, he spoke about this on Sunday during a meeting with a delegation headed by Turkey's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure.

"In the first phase after the end of the war, Armenia opposed this issue. However, I have recently been informed that the Armenian side is appropriately studying these issues related to the inevitability of that corridor. As you know, discussions are currently ongoing in a trilateral format. This issue is being discussed within the framework of the working group at the level of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russia," Aliyev stated.