Azerbaijan Does Not Provide Legal Guarantees to Armenia for the Unblocking of Communications

Azerbaijan has not responded to Armenia's proposal to legally formalize the obligations regarding the opening of communications. This was stated by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia, Mher Grigoryan, in response to a query from Sputnik Armenia.

On March 31, during a cabinet meeting, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared that the obligations regarding the unblocking of roads between Armenia and Azerbaijan should be mutual. He stated that Armenia is ready to construct both a vehicle road and a railway, but considers the signing of an appropriate agreement with Azerbaijan, which would have legal force, crucial.

“We see very specific risks when Armenia constructs both the road and the railway, while Azerbaijan refuses to open the border. Consequently, Armenia would be unable to benefit from the infrastructure, which would require an investment of several hundred million dollars, and Armenia would simply lose several hundred million dollars,” Pashinyan said at that time.

When we asked Grigoryan, who is the Armenian co-chair of the trilateral working group on unblocking transport communications, whether Azerbaijan has responded to this proposal and whether this risk still exists, the office stated, “Azerbaijan has not yet responded to this question, and the aforementioned risk still exists.”

Regarding whether Armenia will continue or start construction under this risk, we received the following response: “The Republic of Armenia identifies and records all such risks for proper management purposes,” Grigoryan said.

The possible route and cost of the future automobile road have also not been determined, as repeatedly mentioned by the Prime Minister. The office responded that “these questions are still under discussion.”

In mid-May, the press service of the Ministry of Territorial Development and Infrastructure of Armenia announced that a geodetic survey had been conducted for a 43 km section of the Yeraskh-Horadiz railway within Armenia.

In response to questions regarding financing, the ministry stated that it would be possible to address this after the completion of design and estimation work.