ArmInfo. After the signing of the trilateral statement on November 9-10 by the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia and the subsequent statement, communication issues came to the fore, leaving in the shadows geopolitical and strategic issues, as well as the political settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Expert, candidate of technical sciences Aram Marjanyan said this in an interview with ArmInfo.
According to him, the Iranian-Nakhijevan junction, or as it is commonly called the Julfa railway junction, is important for Armenia, but it is obvious that it is more important for Iran, Russia and Georgia.
"In my opinion it would be reasonable to consider the opening of the Julfa junction after the strategic interests of the Russian Federation and Iran, on the one hand, and the generalized West, represented by Turkey and Azerbaijan, on the other become clear. In addition to unblocking the Julfa junction, Armenia has other opportunities to create transport links with Iran. And these possibilities should also become the subject of serious discussions, "the expert expressed his conviction.
To recall, in pursuance of the meeting of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia on January 11, 2021, on January 30, a meeting of the trilateral Working Group was held in Moscow under the joint chairmanship of the deputy prime ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation. The parties agreed to create the following expert subgroups: - for rail, road and combined transportation; - on issues of ensuring transportation, including security, border, customs, sanitary, veterinary, phytosanitary and other types of control. The parties agreed to complete the formation of expert subgroups by February 2, 2021 and hold their first meetings by February 5, 2021. Against the background of these agreements, the recent regional visit of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammadad Javad Zarif to Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Moscow and Ankara is remarkable. The Iranian diplomat also visited Nakhijevan. According to media reports, communications and logistics were among the priorities of Zarif's talks to the above countries. Today it also became known about the intention of the leadership of the Iranian railways to visit Russia in February to meet with colleagues from Russian Railways. As Iranian Ambassador to Russia Kazem Jalali said today, within the framework of the visit, it is planned to discuss the construction of a section of the road through Azerbaijan, in particular, the construction of a railway from the port of Chabahar through Zahedan, as well as through Rasht and Astara to St. Petersburg.
"There are two sections that need to be completed ... Azerbaijanis were ready to finance the second section, and recently Baku announced that it could start financing. We hope that within the framework of negotiations between Iran, Russia and Azerbaijan, we will be able to implement this project," the Ambassador said.
In turn, the head of the RA Ministry of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated that the expected launch of the Tehran-Yerevan railway (within the framework of Nakhijevan Corridor) will help solve transport problems between Armenia and Iran. "Iran can create production centers in Armenia to supply its goods to the markets of third countries," Kerobyan is sure.
