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.