Armenia’s new growth phase tied to peace with Azerbaijan, says PM

Armenia is entering a “completely new stage of economic development” linked to the ongoing peace process with Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has said.

The remarks were made during a meeting with representatives of major employers in Armenia, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

Pashinyan said the development is closely tied to expected progress on the TRIPP project, which he described as significant because it has “finally brought the Republic of Armenia out of blockade.”

“Today, Armenia has overcome the blockade, because you know that this is possible and is being implemented via railway through the territory of Azerbaijan to Armenia,” he said.

He added that there is a “clear political commitment” that railway exports will also be possible, including via Georgia, until the reopening of rail links with Azerbaijan under the TRIPP framework.

“I also want to say that the political agreement is that this railway will never be closed, meaning it is a reliable route for both imports and exports,” he said.

However, Pashinyan noted that Armenia has not yet fully shifted to using rail transport for exports due to entrenched logistics structures built over the past three decades.

“As I understand it, we are still not using the railway specifically for exports because 30-year-old logistics chains have been in place, and it is logical that transforming them requires, first of all, trust—people must understand what is being said and how durable and reliable it is—and secondly, logistics chains must change, because one thing is thinking in truck logic, and another is thinking in rail wagon logic,” he said.

By Vafa Guliyeva