ArmInfo.London believes that it will be possible to lift the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh through a common solution to the conflict, and hopes that the leaders of the countries of the region will have the courage and determination to achieve peace. Leo Docherty, Under Secretary of State for Europe of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office stated.
So, when asked whether the close alliance of Great Britain with Turkey and Azerbaijan would interfere with the development of relations with Armenia, the British diplomat expressed his conviction that this should not be the case.
"We do have very close allied relations with Turkey as a NATO member state, and with Azerbaijan, which is a close partner for us, especially in the energy sector. But these relations should not be an obstacle in order to have very deep and meaningful relations with Armenia. I think in terms of our foreign policy, we have a very ambitious and active foreign policy, which is very active on the world stage as well," he said, acknowledging that the UK is committed to being active in the Caucasus region.
According to him, London would like good diplomatic agreements and security systems to work between all states.
At the same time, Docherty assured that the UK has a balanced foreign policy and it wants all partners, all states to step forward and take advantage of these opportunities for security and prosperity to the extent that it can benefit governments and peoples. "As for Armenia, we attach great importance to this, given that you are a young democracy, an ancient people, an ancient civilization, but with a young democracy, and we believe that strengthening this democracy is very important," the diplomat said.
On the issue of intends of British companies to develop the Nagorno-Karabakh mines, Doherty said he was not aware of the details and denied any such allegations. "As I said, we have a transparent foreign policy and our government has nothing to do with commercial transactions in this or any other country. I appreciate the fact that Armenia is a member of the International Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which shows very well whether the extractive industries are doing their job, but this is not is not the government's problem, the government should not be involved in all of this.
The UK hopes that the leaders of the countries of the region will have the courage and determination to achieve peace," the British Minister of State for European Affairs said in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service .
When asked whether the UK has any leverage, apart from calls, to push Azerbaijan to lift the blockade of the Lachin/Berdzor corridor of the checkpoint, Docherty said they called on Azerbaijan to take steps to ensure the full restoration of the free movement of people and goods.
"In our assessment, it is thanks to a common solution that progress in this direction will be possible, but we note that this situation has had serious humanitarian consequences. This once again reminds us why it is very important to find a more courageous solution. We hope that the leaders countries of the region have the courage, determination, bravery to seize the opportunity, achieve peace and improve the standard of living of the population of their countries," the Minister of State for European Affairs added. It should be noted that after the only road linking Armenia with Artsakh was blocked by the so-called eco- activists and representatives of the law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan, information was spread in the media that the Azerbaijani government transferred the management of the Kashen mine located in Martakert of Artsakh to the British Anglo Asian Mining Company within the framework of the deal worth 3 billion dollars signed in July.
Anglo Asian Mining Company, which is officially registered in the UK, reports on its official website that the concession agreement dated July 5, 2022 included three mines, with a total area of 340 square miles.
One of the mines that Azerbaijan transferred to the company is the Kashen copper-molybdenum mine in the Martakert region of the Republic of Artsakh. The media write that the company used the Azerbaijani name Kashen in its message and said that as of January 2016, the mine's reserves amounted to 275 thousand tons of copper and 3.2 thousand tons of molybdenum. It is noted that the company used data previously published by the current operator of the mine, the Armenian Base Metals company.
It is also reported that one of the shareholders of the British company is the head of the administration of former US President George W. Bush, John Sununu (owns 9.3% of the company's shares). It is noted that other members of the Sununu family are also involved in the management of the company. Another 3.5% stake is owned by Limelight Industrial Developments, about which there is no available public information, the newspaper writes. Anglo Asian Mining's largest shareholder is Iranian-born Reza Vaziri, with a 28% stake, who does business in Azerbaijan.