Attempts to advance programs in logic of extraterritorial corridor  have veiled agenda and territorial claims  - Armen Simonyan

ArmInfo. Attempts to advance programs in the logic of an extraterritorial corridor have a  veiled agenda and territorial claims.

Similarly, during the panel discussion on at the 87th session of the UNECE Inland Transport  Committee (ITC), Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructure of Armenia Armen Simonyan responded to the mention of  an extraterritorial corridor by delegates from Turkey and Azerbaijan.

In this vein, he reaffirmed Armenia's principled position, stating  that the unblocking of regional communications should be based on the  principles of sovereignty, jurisdiction, equality and reciprocity.

During his speech at the panel discussion, the Deputy Minister also  presented Armenia's approaches to expanding transport channels,  developing green transport, digitalization and the steps taken by the  Armenian government to facilitate the movement of people and goods at  border and customs checkpoints. According to the press service of the  Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, during a  meeting with members of the Committee, Armen Simonyan presented the  components of the government's project "Crossroads of the World" that  concern rail and road transport. He emphasized that the  implementation of this program can completely change the logic of  interaction in the South Caucasus and neighboring regions,  transforming the economies of countries and making them more  sustainable.

The 87th session of the UNECE Inland Transport Committee was held  from 11 to 13 February in Geneva.

At the day before, answering a question from journalists about  whether Baku really demands a "corridor", the speaker of the National  Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan replied that  Azerbaijan's interpretation of this concept is constantly changing.  "Talk about the corridor as a whole began with the fact that there  was a goal - to place Russian armed forces on this corridor so that  they could control it," he specified.

As for paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020,  which states: "All economic and transport links in the region will be  unblocked. The Republic of Armenia guarantees the security of  transport links between the western regions of the Republic of  Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic in order to  organize the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles and goods in  both directions.  Control over transport links is carried out by the  Border Service of the FSB of Russia. By agreement of the Parties, the  construction of new transport links linking the Nakhchivan Autonomous  Republic with the western regions of Azerbaijan will be ensured,"  according to Alen Simonyan, control over the road can also be carried  out using video cameras. "This document speaks of only one corridor -  Lachin," he said, stressing that Armenia has never agreed to provide  Azerbaijan with an extraterritorial corridor.

RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has previously stated on numerous  occasions that paragraph 9 of the trilateral statement does not say  anything about Russia being able to control anything on the territory  of Armenia. "Not to mention that Russia and Azerbaijan essentially  tore up and threw out the other paragraphs (of the statement). How  can one paragraph be valid when the others are not valid? Referring  to paragraph 9 of the statement is no longer relevant, since  Azerbaijan and Russia have violated their obligations under other  paragraphs," the head of government noted.