Armenia is ready not only to restore previously existing railway  communications with Azerbaijan, but also to build new ones -  Pashinyan

ArmInfo.RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the Ministerial Meeting of Landlocked  Developing Countries, entitled "Promoting equal, affordable and inclusive transport connectivity for stable and resilient economies", one of the largest events ever organized in Armenia jointly with the United Nations.

As the press service of the RA Government  reports, the Prime  Minister made a speech in which he stated:

"UN High Representative for Landlocked Developing Countries Ms. Rabab  Fatima, Chair of the Landlocked Developing Countries Group, Mr.  Lemogang Kwape, Dear Ministers,

Dear participants of the meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries  under the theme "Promoting equal, affordable and inclusive transport  connectivity for stable and resilient economies", I welcome all of  you on the occasion of organizing and attending the most important  event on this important topic in the Republic of Armenia.

I should note that in general, we also re-evaluate the role of  transport communications over time in the sense that our first  perception is usually that transport communications are important for  the movement of goods and people. But in the recent period, also due  to our agendas, we note the importance of the role of transport  communications in the sense of regional stability, security and in  general, for peace and establishment of peace, because it is our  belief and we express this belief in all international platforms  related to the topic that peace is first of all the possibility and  presence of economic and cultural ties between peoples. And these  ties obviously cannot be present without transport communications.

This is the reason why we have integrated our approaches to the very  important topic of opening regional communications in the "Crossroads  of Peace" project, which is essentially about opening regional  communications and which is directly related to greater access to the  sea.

You are probably aware that for more than 30 years Armenia's borders  with Turkey and Azerbaijan have been closed, and today we are talking  a lot about the possibility of opening regional communications. I  consider it very important to record in this prestigious audience  Armenia's readiness to take very concrete and effective steps  regarding the opening of communications in our region, which is  practically expressed in our project as follows:

The Republic of Armenia expresses its willingness to create and  restore railway communication between Azerbaijan and Armenia,  moreover, through the previously existing railways. The first is the  northern route, which connects the Kazakh region of Azerbaijan with  the Tavush region of Armenia, and the second is the southern route,  which, among others, also connects the western regions of Azerbaijan  with the Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan. Moreover, we believe  that the western regions of Azerbaijan can be connected with the  Autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan and the outside world in general  also through the northern route. We have expressed this willingness  officially and we express it today.

The next is about the highways, which, moreover, can have a northern  route, so to speak, a middle route and a southern route, which, as  you can see, will open up new opportunities for our region.  Basically, Armenia can connect and be connected to other countries  through the "Crossroads of Peace" along the north-south and east-west  axis.

In addition, we show the same readiness in terms of opening the  Armenia-Turkey railway, reconstructing and reopening the two  previously existing Armenia-Turkey roads, which, we believe, will  have a significant impact not only on our region, but also on  international economic relations and on cultural, political ties and  global security issues in general.

It is very important to record the principles, which we believe  should underpin the operation of Crossroads of Peace. Or rather, not  only in our opinion, but they are internationally accepted well-known  principles.  The first is that all infrastructure, including roads,  railways, airways, pipelines, cables, power lines, must operate under  the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the countries through which they  pass.

The next principle is as follows: each state, through its state  institutions, ensures border control, customs control and security of  all infrastructures, including the passage of citizens, goods and  vehicles through those communications. Moreover, I would like to  emphasize that in order to solve this task, including ensuring  security, a special unit was created in the National Security Service  by the decision of the Armenian government, the special goal of which  is to ensure the security of regional communications.

The next principle is that all infrastructure can be used for both  domestic and international freight and communication. Countries use  infrastructure on the principle of equality and reciprocity.

Within the framework of the above-mentioned principles, some  procedural simplifications may take place on the basis of the  principle of reciprocity and equality.

Dear attendees, As you noticed, the Crossroads of Peace project,  which expresses mainly railways and roads in this map, can also be  useful for the construction and passage of power lines, cables, gas  pipelines in the East-West and North-South directions. Of course,  this is a much bigger process and project than the regional one, as I  already said, it can have a significant impact internationally.

Related to the topic, this project essentially concerns two  landlocked countries, the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Even today, in fact, we have access to the sea through the friendly,  fraternal Georgia and the friendly Islamic Republic of Iran. But we  believe that the "Crossroads of Peace" project will expand the sea  access of both Armenia and Azerbaijan, and also in general, will  create wider opportunities for multi-modal cargo transportation, and  also very significant opportunities for pipelines, cables and power  lines in the mentioned directions can also be opened.

But, of course, all this is possible when peace is established  between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The main question that is being asked  is how possible is peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and within  the framework of what principles should it take place?

As mentioned in this slide, there are three main principles, one of  which I actually already touched on, which is that the agreements on  lifting the transport blockade should take place on the basis of the  principle of sovereignty, jurisdiction, equality and reciprocity of  the countries.

The first principle is that Armenia and Azerbaijan recognize each  other's territorial integrity with the understanding that the  territory of Armenia is 29,800 square kilometers and the territory of  Azerbaijan is 86,600 square kilometers.

The next principle is that the delimitation process between Armenia  and Azerbaijan should take place on the basis of the 1991 Alma-Ata  Declaration. For those who may not be well informed, the Alma-Ata  Declaration is a document that recorded two realities. The first is  that the Soviet Union no longer exists and the second is that the  Soviet republics, in this case, the 12 republics that signed the  Alma-Ata Declaration, gain independence within the administrative  boundaries of the Soviet republics. Consequently, administrative  boundaries become state borders, and the signatory countries mutually  recognize each other's territorial integrity within these borders.

It is very important to record that these three principles and  agreements were recorded based on the results of the trilateral  meetings held in Brussels, in particular, based on the results of the  meetings between the President of the European Council Charles  Michel, the President of Azerbaijan and myself on May 14 and July 15.  And if Azerbaijan does not abandon these agreements and principles,  signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan in the near future becomes  very realistic. For my part, I want to emphasize that the Republic of  Armenia reaffirmed and reaffirms its commitment to the mentioned  agreements. The main question that arises is how likely it is that a  peace treaty will be signed between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the  near future.

In general, there are several approaches to answering this question.  one can focus on facts that indicate that the probability of such an  event is not high, and one can focus on facts that indicate or speak  about the fact that the probability of such developments is high. And  it should be said objectively that both sets of facts exist.

But since a very important event happened yesterday, there was an  exchange of prisoners between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and 31  representatives of Armenia and 1 soldier from Nagorno Karabakh were  returned to Armenia by Azerbaijan, I would not like to focus on  pessimistic facts. 

And I would like to at least consider yesterday's event as a zero  point from which we will be able to at least try and make efforts so  that all future news will be more indicative of an increase in the  probability of signing a peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan  and not the other way around.

Dear attendees, Once again, I welcome you all to the meeting under  the theme "Promoting equal, affordable and inclusive transport  connectivity for stable and resilient economies". I wish success to  this important conference, because the topic under discussion is very  important and, as I have already said, it has a context related not  only to economic, but also to political, security, cultural and  global stability. I am sure that the discussions and conclusions of  today's meeting will contribute to the development, stability and  security of our region, landlocked countries and the world in  general.  Thank you".

The event taking place in Yerevan is a formal thematic meeting  organized ahead of the Third Conference of Landlocked Developing  Countries (LLDCs) to be held in Kigali in June, 2024.  The event is  attended by more than 30 foreign delegations, including  representatives of landlocked developing and transit countries, in  particular, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Botswana and Nepal,  the Ministers of Transport of Zimbabwe, Eswatini and Lesotho, the  Minister of Tourism of Malawi, the Deputy Ministers of Foreign  Affairs of Paraguay and Georgia, Deputy Ministers of Transport of  Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan.

The event is also attended by representatives of international  organizations, such as UN Uder Secretary- General and High  Representative for Landlocked Developing Countries Rabab Fatima,  Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Europe Tatiana  Molchan, TRACECA Secretary General Asset Assavbaev, Deputy Director  General of the World Trade Organization.

The Secretaries General of Economic and Social Commissions of UN  Africa, as well as UN Asia and the Pacific, the World Customs  Organization and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation will deliver  video messages.