Armenia ready to unblock all transport, economic links in region - Pashinyan

YEREVAN. May 25 (Interfax) - Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has reiterated Yerevan's readiness to unblock all transport and economic links in the region.

"In his address, the Azerbaijani president used an expression which in recent years has served as a headline for pursuing territorial claims against Armenia. I want to tell you that this is used in implementing Paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020. I'd like to emphasize that this statement refers to the only corridor, and this is the Lachin corridor, which should have been under the control of Russian peacekeepers but, regrettably, appears to be unlawfully blocked by Azerbaijan," Pashinyan said, speaking at a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Moscow on Thursday.

"On the other hand, I want to reiterate Armenia's readiness to unblock all transport and economic connections in the region, and communication lines running across Armenian territory," he said.

"We call it the Armenian Crossroad. We are ready to open regional communications within the scope of the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries that they run through. I mean those transport links referred to in Paragraph 9 of the Trilateral Statement of November 9, 2020 and in the Trilateral Statement of November 11, 2021," Pashinyan said.

In response, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the meeting that he had heard the Azerbaijani president say in his speech that "conditions are being created in connection with the recognition of borders [that were] confirmed by agreements dating back as early as 1991; these conditions give good reason to believe that appropriate agreements may be reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan, including on transport links."

"I am very pleased to note that the Armenian prime minister also said that Armenia is thinking positively in this respect as well, [and] believes that this is possible. But we could all discuss this, I think, at the trilateral meeting today. I hope that an agreement will be achieved on something that quite obviously lies within the scope of [our] interests concerning the economic development of Armenia and Azerbaijan, and the entire region. I think we will have time to discuss all of this in detail," Putin said.