At the beginning of the Cabinet meeting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan spoke about the deepening or normalization of relations with neighboring countries. The Prime Minister particularly said,
”Dear colleagues,
Dear compatriot,
Whilepresenting the 5-year Action Plan of the Government at the National Assembly on August 24, I recorded that deepening or normalization of relations with neighboring countries will be one of the key directions of the Government’s foreign policy, and this has been recorded in the Action Plan which has been approved by the Parliament, and the implementation of this Plan has become a working agenda for us.
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As you know, after my reappointment as Prime Minister, I have already managed to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran, and today I am leaving for Georgia. The development of regional communications is an important issue on the agenda of our discussions with both Iran and Georgia, and in this context I attach importance to the North-South program, which connects our border with the Islamic Republic of Iran to our border with Georgia. The establishment of a railway communication with the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran is highly important for us. For solving this issue we are discussing the re-opening of communications within the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral format. Here we are determined to make efforts for achieving concrete results, of course, with the understanding that Azerbaijan is expecting communication between its western regions and Nakhichevan.
I would like to remind again that we are inclined to restore the peace process with Azerbaijan within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs’ format. I also highlight the agenda of demarcation and delimitation with Azerbaijan, and we continue to work to create the necessary conditions for that. We hope to complete the process of returning our captives, hostages and other detainees to Armenia as soon as possible.
‘Dear colleagues,
I have to note that the Turkish President has publicly referred to the issue of relations with Armenia. We see in these statements an opportunity to speak about the normalization of the Armenia-Turkey relations and re-launching the Armenian-Turkish railway and roads. And we are ready for such a conversation, and we are ready for such a conversation, which can get a larger context in the light of the abovementioned. By and large, this is about transforming our region into a crossroads linking the West with East and North with South.
I am pleased to note that the Russian Federation has expressed public readiness to actively support this process. The European Union, France and the United States are also interested in this process, while the interest of China and India in the development of communication projects is well known.
Dear colleagues,
I consider it necessary to emphasize once again that the peace and stability of the region is our long-term strategy, and we consider ourselves responsible for the solution of that issue. It’s easy to declare about peace, stability, cooperation, which are desirable goals, but their realization requires reasonable, thoughtful, pragmatic efforts and the Republic of Armenia is ready to make such efforts.
Thank you. ”
INFORMATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT OF THE OFFICE OF THE PRIME-MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA