Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who is in Georgia on a working visit, participated in the 5th Silk Road Forum, which was also attended by Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov.
The Prime Minister made a speech within the framework of the forum, in which he, in particular, noted:
“Honorable Prime Minister Kobakhidze,
Dear participants of the conference,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Firstly, I would like to thank my counterpart, the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze, for inviting me to this event and for the warm welcome.
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It is a great honor for me to participate for the second time in the International Silk Road Conference in Tbilisi, which, true to its name, has become an important platform for officials from different countries, the private sector, and international experts to have exchanges and discover new ideas.
Last time, in October 2023, speaking at the “Silk Road” conference, I presented for the first time from this very platform the “Crossroads of Peace” project initiated by the Government of the Republic of Armenia, which subsequently received the approval and support of our many international partners.
The key idea of that project was to develop regional and international transport communication through the territory of the Republic of Armenia, not only towards Georgia and the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also towards Azerbaijan and Türkiye, by opening Armenia’s communications with them.
I am pleased to note that we have made great progress in this regard. On August 8, 2025, at the initiative and with the support of US President Donald Trump, the President of Azerbaijan and I adopted the Declaration of Peace in the US capital, Washington DC, which was also signed as a witness by President Trump.
The Declaration specifically addresses regional communications, and its third paragraph states (quote):
“We reaffirmed the importance of the opening of communications between the two countries for intra-state, bilateral, and international transportation for the promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and in its neighborhood on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of the States. These efforts are to include unimpeded connectivity between the main part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia with reciprocal benefits for international and intra-state connectivity for the Republic of Armenia.” (end of quote).
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Azerbaijan has taken an important step in implementing this point of the Declaration. President Aliyev announced yesterday that Azerbaijan is lifting restrictions on the transit of goods through its territory to Armenia. This is an extremely important announcement, and I would like to express my appreciation for this step by the President of Azerbaijan and welcome this announcement.
Something that seemed unlikely months ago is now taking place: grain is being imported from Kazakhstan to Armenia via Azerbaijan and Georgia. I would also like to express my appreciation for this deal to the President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and to the Prime Minister of Georgia, Irakli Kobakhidze.
Dear participants of the conference,
In continuation of the above, I draw your attention to the fact that paragraph 4 of the Washington Declaration states: (quote):
“The Republic of Armenia will work with the United States of America and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. We confirm our determination to pursue efforts in good faith to achieve this goal in the most expeditious manner.” (end of quote).
We are now working with the United States of America to implement these agreements.
I am also glad to note that the positive dialogue between Armenia and Türkiye gives hope that we may soon have the opening of the Armenia- Türkiye border. But before that, I would like to note that we are not only politically but also technically ready to ensure the transit of trucks from Türkiye to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Türkiye through the territory of the Republic of Armenia starting from today.
Both the roads and border infrastructures in Armenia are ready for this, along the Margara-Yeghegnadzor-Sisian-Goris route.
Politically, we are ready to ensure in the same way transit from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to the main part of Azerbaijan and vice versa through the territory of Armenia, but technically we are not yet ready due to the lack of infrastructure.
Politically, we are also ready to provide rail transit between Türkiye and the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, as well as between Türkiye and the main part of Azerbaijan, but the railway in those sections needs repair or reconstruction.
I am convinced that these technical issues will also be resolved within two to three years. In the near future, pipelines and electricity lines will also be built through the territory of Armenia from Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan, as well as Azerbaijan-Armenia- Türkiye, and as I said, railway and road communications will be ensured, too. All of this is under discussion within the framework of the TRIPP project. We are also in relevant discussions with Türkiye and Azerbaijan.
Of course, the most important condition for bringing all this to life is peace, which was established between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a result of the Washington Summit. We are now working to make the peace established with Azerbaijan more institutional, to sign and ratify the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, which was initialed in Washington. Parallel to this, as I noted, all transport routes will be opened in due course, bringing a historic change to our region.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I have read some comments about competition between transport projects in our region. Allow me to say that I absolutely disagree with that idea, because the transport routes in our region complement each other, increasing the transit potential of the South Caucasus. Let me give you an example: as a result of the implementation of the third paragraph of the Washington Declaration, the Persian Gulf-Black Sea railway will also be opened, increasing by an enormous amount the transit potential of not only Armenia, but also Georgia.
The Armenia-Türkiye dialogue, the peace that has been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the TRIPP project, the good-neighborly relations of Georgia and the Islamic Republic of Iran with the countries of the region will make the South Caucasus the most attractive transit route in the North-South and East-West directions, which means that the infrastructures of all the countries of our region will be overloaded, maybe even insufficient to serve these growing flows.
The enormous international interest that is now focused on the South Caucasus is capital that we must correctly use together, I mean Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, in cooperation, to ensure the development and stability of our region.
We finally have a historic chance to ensure not only a peaceful, but also a prosperous and developing South Caucasus. After all, peace, prosperity, and development are the constant companions of commercial cargo, pipelines, electricity lines, or, commercial cargo, pipelines, and electricity lines are the constant companions of peace and prosperity. And now, peace has come to the region, and all we have to do is bring more cargo, more pipelines, more electricity lines and more prosperity, more development to the South Caucasus, which will further strengthen peace, which in turn will increase the volume and pace of cargo, prosperity, and development. For all of us.
I believe that we, the leaders of the three South Caucasian countries, have sufficient will, wisdom, and foresight to work not only separately, but also together, to ensure the presence of this caro, prosperity, development, and peace.
Of course, in cooperation with our other neighbors and international partners.
Honorable Prime Minister Kobakhidze,
Dear participants of the conference,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for your attention!”
The Prime Minister also answered the moderator’s question.
Question – We just heard from Prime Minister Pashinyan about the importance of peace and stability and the steps that Armenia is taking to strengthen connectivity with its neighbors and with a country like Türkiye. How do steps to promote economic ties and regional cooperation, that agenda, strengthen connectivity? And what role does connectivity play in advancing the peace agenda and strengthening trust between neighbors?
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan – Thank you for the question. But first of all, I would like to thank my colleagues for their speeches and for focusing on the positive aspects in those speeches.
I think that the atmosphere of the August 8 event is also expressed here. A year ago, we would not have seen something like this, that the Prime Minister of Armenia would thank the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan. We always thank the Prime Minister of Georgia, there is nothing new there. But a year ago, we would not have seen the Prime Minister of Armenia thank the Prime Minister or President of Azerbaijan, and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan would thank the Prime Minister of Armenia. And this is evidence of very important events. I want to emphasize that peace has indeed been established between Armenia and Azerbaijan. And I want to pay attention to this nuance, because both I and President Aliyev emphasize this, and it is a reality.
Connectivity, I think, is very important for institutionalizing the established peace, because in my speech I tried to emphasize that, nevertheless, transport links bring joint benefits. But it should also be said directly that they also bring, if I may say so, interdependencies. Of course, this word may not sound politically harmonious, but this is a very important factor. In other words, what do I mean? When countries begin to cooperate with each other in the field of transport communications, what effect does it bring? It brings an effect of economic growth, it brings an increase in budget revenues, it brings an effect of increasing state expenditures and increasing the level of well-being of societies, and suddenly countries understand that they are mutually interested in each other’s stability, territorial integrity, sovereignty, and the ability of countries to make independent decisions, because it is very important that countries, in this case I am talking about the countries of the South Caucasus, when communicating with each other, be sure that we can reach agreements, implement these agreements.
Yesterday we discussed this topic with Prime Minister Kobakhidze, I shared this thought with Prime Minister Kobakhidze. You know, the established peace is also a very good opportunity for us to look back at our last more than a hundred years of history. When we look at our last hundred years of history from a slightly different perspective, we understand that our stories are interconnected. I will give the simplest and most famous example: in 1918, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan gained independence within a few days, then, after some time, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan lost their independence during the same period. In 1991, the three countries again, in fact, gained independence simultaneously. And when we say that we should learn lessons from our history, I think that in 1991, we had not learned enough lessons from our history of 1918-1920 and did not understand why we gained independence together and lost independence together. One of the reasons for this is that we did not appreciate the importance of each other’s independence, sovereignty, and statehood for each other. It seemed to us or our ancestors that we could gain greater benefits by fighting each other. Meanwhile, history has shown that by fighting each other, we can only suffer losses and lose the most important thing: the state, independence.
And I want to make my perception, my conclusion, why peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan became possible. This is something that has not been discussed, I am expressing my impression, I am expressing my thoughts, we have never had a discussion with President Aliyev on this topic. In my opinion, there is still an invisible factor that made peace possible, an opportunity was created to see the South Caucasus in a broader context and to understand that nevertheless, and as history shows, despite the conflict, contradictions and long-standing hostility, in the case of us and Azerbaijan, I mean, the destinies of the countries of the South Caucasus have certain interconnections. And the conflict, hostility often does not allow us to notice the base of common interests that we may have.
What is this positive atmosphere today about? It does not mean that the history of our conflict has disappeared, it was simply erased in one day. No, there cannot be such a thing. It means something else: we have begun to notice a little more that the countries of the South Caucasus – Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia – have common interests. And there is a possibility that these common interests have strategic significance.
I didn’t really deviate from your question about transport, about communication, because if we look at the issues from this perspective, I think that we will be able to achieve regional competition, because countries compete with each other, people also compete, parties also compete, all of that is normal, we can use that energy in the South Caucasus to form an atmosphere of cooperation, understanding that the cargo, the pipelines that will pass through our region, in fact, they will bring income to all our countries.
Therefore, it turns out that we have a common partnership. Therefore, all of us, when our state budget and public revenues increase, will have an agenda: what to do so that these revenues do not decrease first and, on the contrary, increase. Here is the simplest base of common interests that I was talking about. Thank you.
The Office to the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia