Azerbaijani FM: Baku has a "plan B" regarding "Zangezur corridor"

ArmInfo. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov said that Baku has a "Plan B"  regarding the Zangezur Corridor, suggesting that the project can be implemented without Armenia's participation if Yerevan continues to behave 'unconstructively'.

"At some point, there is a feeling that we are close to completing  work on the opening of the Zangezur corridor, when suddenly, at the  last moment, Armenia unexpectedly puts forward something new, which  again leads the process to a dead end. This is not constructive, in  addition, it is also a violation of the relevant paragraph of the  tripartite statement of the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia  dated November 9, 2020, according to which Armenia committed itself  to guaranteeing the unhindered movement of goods, citizens and  vehicles," Bayramov said in an interview with the Azertac news agency  and the Hungarian Magyar Demokrata newspaper, during his official  visit to Hungary. 

According to Bayramov, such an approach may lead to Yerevan missing  another profitable opportunity to improve the country's economy, as  "the road can simply bypass Armenia." "Azerbaijan will continue to  work in this direction, having a" plan B ". And for it the project  will be implemented even without the participation of Armenia, but in  this case it will simply fall out of the beneficiaries," he   stressed.

Bayramov noted that the 'Zangezur corridor' is one of the elements of  the East-West transport corridor.  "Experts estimated that the  'Zangezur corridor' could add an additional 5-8 million tons of cargo  to the Middle Corridor. This is a big benefit not only for Azerbaijan  and Armenia, but also for other countries," he added.

Llast year a memorandum was signed between Iran and Azerbaijan on the  construction of a railway to Nakhichevan through the territory of  Iran. Apparently, the Azerbaijani minister, speaking about the plan  "B", had in mind this memorandum.

A tripartite working group, co-chaired by the vice-prime ministers of  Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan, is operating in order to open the  transport and economic communications of the region.