ArmInfo. The Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies of Armenia Vahan Martirosyan discussed with the Ambassador of China to Armenia Tian Erlong the ways of expanding cooperation between the countries in the sphere of transport, communications, road construction and telecommunications.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Transport of Armenia, an exchange of views took place on the restoration of the "Silk Road", which is of national importance for China.
The parties also turned to the works carried out by the Chinese company Sinohydro Corp. in the Talin-Landjik and Landjik-Gyumri sections within the framework of the investment program for the construction of the North-South transport corridor.
The concept implies not only the construction and development of transport and logistics infrastructure, a giant free trade zone, but also a unique financial system uniting regional development banks, creating conditions for targeted capital flows and providing settlements in national currencies, primarily in RMB. To implement the New Silk Road project, Beijing established a $ 40 billion Silk Road Fund, as well as a $ 100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (ABII).
The project to create a transport corridor "North-South" with a total length of 556 km, will provide access to the Black Sea and European countries through the territory of Armenia (Meghri-Kapan-Goris-Yerevan- Ashtarak-Gyumri-Bavra) and Georgia. The $ 1 billion investment program is aimed at contraction of the connection between the north (the border with Georgia) and southern Armenia (the border with Iran) via transport communications and access to world markets. As the authorities of Armenia expect, the program will allow the country in the future to mitigate the consequences of the blockade by Azerbaijan and Turkey, to play the role of a transit state in the freight transportation of the countries of the region, and also to join the Black Sea ring highway.
