Pashinyan expresses appreciation for Azerbaijani president’s recent step: Highlights from Pahinyan’s speech in Tbilisi

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev announced yesterday that Azerbaijan is lifting restrictions on the transit of cargo through its territory to Armenia. “This is an extremely important announcement, and I want to express my appreciation to the President of Azerbaijan for this step,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Tbilisi 5th Silk Road Forum.

Highlights from Pashinyan’s speech are presented below:

• Grain from Kazakhstan is being imported to Armenia via Azerbaijan and Georgia. Pashinyan extended his appreciation also to the president of Kazakhstan and the prime minister of Georgia for facilitating the agreement.
• Armenia is ready, starting immediately, to ensure the transit of trucks through its territory from Turkey to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Turkey.
• The South Caucasus will become the most attractive transit route in the North–South and East–West directions, meaning that all regional infrastructure will be heavily loaded — if not insufficient — to handle the growing flows.
• In the near future, pipelines and power transmission lines from Azerbaijan through Armenian territory to Nakhijevan, as well as Azerbaijan-Armenia-Turkey corridors, will also be constructed. These plans are currently under discussion within the TRIPP framework. Relevant consultations are under way with Turkey and Azerbaijan.