Gegham Nazaryan from ‘Hayastan’ faction of the Parliament of the Republic of Armenia asked during the Parliament-Government question-answer session what agreements had been reached at the level of the trilateral working group of the deputy prime ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, and what they are negotiating about.
In response, Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan said. “From the first day and today I also said and I repeat a very important circumstance, a very important postulate, which refers to our works. We hold discussions exclusively within the jurisdiction and sovereignty of countries, related to roads. That is, the roads that will pass through those countries, and around which we hold discussions, will be subject to the jurisdiction of that country, will be subject to the sovereign rules of that country, and will operate under sovereignty. This is an important part of our work, and we are still discussing issues in this context.”
The second problem, according to the Deputy Prime Minister, is the possible technical solutions related to the infrastructure, which refer to the railway and roads.
“Let me honestly say that there are quite common approaches to the railway, because, in fact, our negotiations and the discussions refer to the Yeraskh-Horadiz line, and, in fact, what is the importance of that section. It is not only an independent sector, but also an opportunity for Julfa-Julfa to get a connection with Iran from Yeraskh, and it is also a link with the Georgian railway and becomes an infrastructural solution of regional significance. From my answer we can assume that only one piece is being discussed, which is called Yeraskh-Horadiz, but it is not, it is the piece that is of regional importance, which is very important for us, because I think at this stage for us one of the most important issue is to find and agree on a solution in a technical sense, which will be of regional significance. In that case, we will get the basic peace mandate we are talking about, because all the countries in the region will be interested in the work of that infrastructure.”
As for the question whether this process has anything to do with demarcation, Mher Grigoryan emphasized that they are independent processes.
“There is absolutely no connection in those processes. Naturally, I, in my turn, will be involved in the work in other directions as well, but one has nothing to do with the other. Our unblocking process is a simple process, which is carried out as a process of regional significance of unblocking communications and economic ties in the region. Let's not connect one with the other,” said Armenia’s Deputy Prime Minister.
