Ilham Aliyev and Ebrahim Raisi met at the 16th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization in Tashkent. The Iranian President expressed support for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, noted that Tehran is ready to participate in the reconstruction of Karabakh and the development of Azerbaijan. Raisi emphasized that bilateral relations are based on inseparable ties. The presidents also noted that any intervention by the West harms the countries of the region.
“The cooperation between our countries in the field of transport is expanding. The Aghbend route passing through the Araks River and other projects correspond to the interests of our countries. This guarantees the transport connection between Azerbaijan, Iran and Nakhijevan,” Raisi said.
Ilham Aliyev also stated that Armenia has been refusing to fulfill its obligations for several years, that is, to provide a road from the main part of Azerbaijan to Nakhijevan.
“I think they made a big mistake. I am very happy that we reached an agreement with Iran on the issues related to the railway and highway along the southern bank of the Araks River. I am sure that this project will be implemented in a short time and will become another direction of the North-South Corridor. In other words, as a result, we will have two routes: one through Astara, one through Aghbend,” said Aliyev.
It should be noted that the Armenian side has repeatedly stated that it is ready and interested in the opening of regional communications, but no issue can be discussed according to the corridor logic. One of the important manifestations of the commitment of the Armenian side is the ‘Crossroads of Peace’ project, which was presented a few days ago during the Silk Road International Conference organized in Tbilisi.
