It’s Time to Open the Land Border Between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Says Papoyan

The Minister of Economy, Gevorg Papoyan, has conveyed to "Azatutyun" that the preliminary price for transit of goods from Azerbaijan to Armenia via the Georgian railway is considered relatively high and non-competitive, but discussions are still ongoing.

“On one side is the Georgian railway company, and on the other side are companies importing grain or gasoline; naturally, they need to negotiate and find the best option,” said the minister, noting that he is not directly involved in these negotiations.

Prime Minister Pashinyan, addressing the issue of the Georgian railway's transit tariffs, stated that if the issue is not resolved, logically, economic operators will search for alternative ways to ensure imports and exports.

Today, Papoyan shed light on the potential alternatives: “In my opinion, it is a very good time for the land border between Armenia and Azerbaijan to be opened. The goods that arrive by railway up to the Armenian border can then be transported multimodally to trucks and reach Armenia via the Armenia-Azerbaijan land border. I believe there are no circumstances hindering this in either Armenia or Azerbaijan. It seems to me that businesses are ready for this as well,” emphasized the minister.

Papoyan noted that if the Azerbaijani side is willing, they can proceed with this method.