The Armenian government set up last month a task force that will coordinate construction of the 45-kilometer railway estimated to cost about $200 million. The move followed verbal understandings reached by Prime Minister Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev late last year.
Speaking at a weekly session of his cabinet, Pashinian reiterated on Thursday that the Armenian side is already gearing up for the construction.
“Although technical and design works have already started, we hope that the understandings reached will soon be registered in the form of a document so that a de jure process also unfolds in full swing,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigorian, who represents Armenia in Russian-mediated talks on transport links with Azerbaijan, defended this position.
“Before we can launch such a project there needs to be a written agreement to that effect because it requires substantial investments,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
Grigorian discussed the matter with Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk and the head of Russian Railways (RZD) state monopoly, Oleg Belozerov, when they visited Yerevan two weeks ago. He gave no details of the talks, saying only that the Russian and Armenian governments are closely cooperating.
RZD runs Armenia’s railway network, called South Caucasus Railway (SCR), in line with a 30-year management contract signed with the former Armenian government in 2008. Grigorian indicated that the Azerbaijan-Nakhichevan rail link passing through Armenia’s Syunik province will also be managed by SCR.
