What Model Should Monitor the Nakhchivan Railway? Kerobyan Clarifies

The Armenian government envisions a specific model for overseeing the Nakhchivan railway, should it reopen. This was stated by the Minister of Economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, to journalists in the National Assembly.

Recently, following negotiations in Brussels, Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, announced that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to seek the support of the World Customs Organization regarding the reactivation of the railway through Nakhchivan.

Kerobyan mentioned, "A similar type of regulation was planned in the section of Georgia and Abkhazia, and a well-known company from around the world was supposed to oversee it. It was a Swiss company, while there are also French and several other companies whose provided documentation enjoys great trust worldwide."

He explained that according to this model of oversight, inspection points should be established at the entry and exit areas of Abkhazia, which would replace customs functions.

The minister noted that while this measure did not work in the case of Abkhazia, it provides an idea of how the Nakhchivan railway could be monitored.

“In general, it must be said that we are certainly in favor of developing any type of infrastructure, as Armenia has significant potential in terms of infrastructure,” added Kerobyan.

It is worth recalling that after the 44-day war, the unblocking of the region and the restoration of railway connections became one of the key issues on the Armenian-Azerbaijani agenda and one of the provisions of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020.

Let us note that an agreement on the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Meghri-Horadiz railway has been reached during meetings between the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Sochi and Brussels. This route provides Azerbaijan with a railway connection to Nakhchivan, which has no land border.