Pashinyan on the project "Crossroads of Peace" and peace with Azerbaijan

Baku/26.10.23/Turan: The South Caucasus needs peace when countries live with open borders, are connected by active economic, political, cultural and human ties, have accumulated experience and traditions of resolving all issues through diplomacy and dialogue. All this is impossible without roads.  The key meaning of this project is the development of communications between Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran, the  Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Silk Road International Conference in Tbilisi on October 26.

"The railways running through the south and north of Armenia have not been functioning at the regional level for thirty years, as have many highways connecting east and west, and the resumption of these roads would be a short and efficient route connecting the Caspian Sea with the Mediterranean, both by rail and by road.

Similarly, these rail and road communications can become an effective way to connect the Persian Gulf with the Black Sea, including with Georgian ports. This program will greatly benefit all the countries of our region, and I want to draw the attention of governments and private investors to this opportunity," the Armenian Prime Minister said.

He stressed the following principles of the "Crossroads of the World":

1: All infrastructure, including highways, railways, airways, pipelines, cables, power lines, operate under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass;

2: Each country carries out border and customs control on its territory through its state institutions, as well as ensures the security of infrastructure, including the passage of goods, vehicles and people through them. By the way, in the near future a special unit will be created in the law enforcement system of Armenia, whose function will be to ensure the security of international communications passing through Armenia, the passage of goods, vehicles and, of course, people, in cooperation with our patrol police;

3: The specified infrastructure can be used for both international and domestic transportation.

4: All countries use each other's infrastructure on the basis of equality and reciprocity. Certain simplifications of border and customs control procedures can be implemented on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

Armenia is currently working on a draft agreement on peace and settlement of relations with Azerbaijan, expressing hope that this process will be successfully completed in the coming months and the conflict will be resolved according to the following principles:

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

Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to delimit the border on the basis of the Alma-Ata Declaration of 1991, which means that the administrative borders between the republics of the Soviet Union have become state borders.

"I hope that in the near future there will be progress towards opening the border between Armenia and Turkey for third-country citizens and holders of diplomatic passports, which will also give a positive impetus to the entire region," the Armenian Prime Minister concluded. ---0---