Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan has denied allegations that the Crossroads of Peace project developed by his administration was imposed by a foreign power.
Speaking at a conference on Crossroads of Peace project: Combining Security and Democracy, the Prime Minister said he was surprised to hear such allegations.
“That’s a result of the lack of a proper assessment of the situation. This project is at the center of Armenia’s interests,” Pashinyan said.
He underscored that Armenia is more than interested in the solutions that the project offers.
"Imagine we are developing by not using the most part of our border potential, meaning the most part of the potential infrastructures for transit and imports and exports. 70 percent of the potential infrastructure opportunities of Armenia is not used because it doesn’t have a real and realistic opportunity to connect to the global railway network, and it doesn’t have a real opportunity to integrate with the global North-South, East-West road network. These opportunities are either highly limited or artificially obstructed as a result of the complete closure of the Armenia-Turkey and Armenia-Azerbaijan borders,” he said.
According to the Prime Minister, this project can actually be a blessing for our region, creating economic prerequisites for security and stability.
“This project can be highly successful for the region by creating economic prerequisites for security and stability. I believe that there can’t be security and stability in an environment lacking economic prerequisites,” Pashinyan said at a conference on the Crossroads of Peace project.
A reality where by saying “security” people think only of the military means there is no security, he added.
“No doubts, the army has a key role in ensuring security, however the army’s role in ensuring security is neither primary nor secondary. If it is the first or the second it would mean that the security system is completely undermined. With this logic it seems that this project is first of all about ensuring security, and subsequently about ensuring prosperity,” Pashinyan said.
