There is nothing about providing corridor by Armenia -PM

A possible tool and platform for creating a favorable environment around Armenia is the working group of the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, formed on the basis of the trilateral statements of January 11 and November 9 for regional economic and transport unblocking, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said while presenting the government program at the National Assembly sitting. He noted that the government sees in the activity of the working group a serious opportunity to break the blockade that has been going on for about 30 years.

“Of course, this is not a simple process at all; it is aggravated by the destructive-provocative statements of Azerbaijan about some corridors. I have said many times that neither in the articles on the November 9 trilateral statement, nor in the January 11 statement, which is entirely about the opening of communications, there is no reference, wording about the creation of a corridor in Armenia. It is about something else: just as Armenia has to get a road through Azerbaijan for transport communication with the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, so Azerbaijan has to get a road through Armenia for transport communication with its western regions, Nakhichevan. At the same time, we do not deny that the topic of opening regional communications contains certain risks for the national interests of Armenia. And this is the reason why we have mentioned in the government’s program that unblocking should be one of the priorities of Armenia’s foreign policy, at the same time this process cannot take place at the expense of other security and vital interests of Armenia and Artsakh. But we have to answer another question, can this process take place only by taking into account the interests of the Republic of Armenia, ignoring the interests of the countries of the region or without taking into account the interests of those countries. This, unfortunately, is a fundamental question that I am afraid has not been asked so often in the 30-year history of our independence. Our biggest task is to create a favorable environment in the region around Armenia, this is an issue that has always been on our state agenda. But in the context of a practical solution to the problem, we have not paid attention to a very important circumstance: if we want to create a favorable regional environment around Armenia, we must make Armenia a favorable environment for the region. Moreover, on the principle of reciprocity, neither more nor less. As much as we want the environment to be favorable for Armenia, we must make Armenia as favorable for the environment. If you will, this is our strategic security challenge. At the moment, I do not offer very concrete and practical solutions, I just draw the attention of all of us to this important feature,” the prime minister said.