Tuesday, February 8 2022 14:49

ArmInfo.The re-exploitation of the railway from Azerbaijan to Armenia, Horadiz - Meghri - Julfa - Ordubad - Yeraskh, will not interfere with the implementation of the  Persian Gulf - Black Sea multimodal transport corridor project. A  similar opinion was expressed to ArmInfo by head of the Department of  Iranian Studies at Yerevan State University Vardan Voskanyan.

Since 2016, at the initiative of Iran, the countries of the region  have been discussing the prospect of establishing a "Persian Gulf -  Black Sea" transport corridor. During the past five years, as part of  the discussions on this initiative, five meetings of the working  groups have been held: two in Tehran, as well as in Sofia, Tbilisi  and Yerevan.

"I do not think that the reincarnation of this railway will lead to a  decision in Tehran to change the route of the ITC from the Syunik  region of Armenia to Nakhichevan.  Iran, no doubt, attaches great  importance to the construction of the North-South highway through the  territory of Armenia. And the recent statement by the Iranian  Ambassador to Armenia about the importance of alternative transit  routes through Armenia, the importance of the Persian Gulf-Black Sea  ITC, of which the North-South highway is a part, is a message to  Armenia and Azerbaijan," he noted.

In general, the Iranian expert considers the deepening of the  Armenian-Iranian cooperation as an important element in ensuring the  national security of Armenia. In particular, in the field of  countering international terrorism, in the light of international  terrorists who have entrenched themselves in the occupied territories  of Artsakh. In this light, he sees a very important platform for the  development of cooperation between Yerevan and Tehran. Which, without  a doubt, must be fully utilized.

Returning to the "Persian Gulf - Black Sea" ITC, Voskanyan stressed  that the speedy completion of the construction of the Armenian part  of this project through the Syunik region in the form of the  North-South highway will not only bring tangible economic profits to  Armenia, but will also significantly increase the degree of security  of the country. In this light, the expert emphasized the importance  of the geopolitical component of this geo-economic project for  Armenia.

" There is a lot of talk in Armenia today about the benefits of  normalizing relations with Turkey. But, for some reason, no one says  that in terms of economic attractiveness, Iran is not inferior to  Turkey in this regard. And, for some reason, the presence of an open  border with Iran Armenia practically does not use it for the purpose  of economic preferences. Here again, I must emphasize the importance  of the full-fledged exploitation of the free economic zone in Meghri,  not only in relations between Iran and Armenia, but also on the scale  of the EAEU," the Iranian expert summed up.