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.
