Hajiyev: Baku to work on alternative transport routes if Yerevan refuses obligations

If Armenia refuses its obligations, Azerbaijan will work on alternative transport routes with other countries, Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of Foreign Policy Affairs Department of the Presidential Administration Hikmet Hajiyev said in an interview with TASS, Report informs.

“If Armenia refuses its obligations under various pretexts and wants to continue to remain isolated, Baku doesn’t intend to wait and is already actively working on alternative projects with other countries in the region. We will not tie our logistics needs to the whims of the Armenian government and will move forward with our regional partners,” he noted.

The presidential aide emphasized that Azerbaijan consistently advocates the opening of all transport communications in the region, since it believes that close trade and economic ties will contribute to peace, stability and prosperity of the region: “In this context, we highly appreciate the position of the Russian Federation, which is making great efforts to making progress in this direction.”

Hajiyev said that “a certain stagnation is observed” in negotiations on unblocking transport links. Thus, he reminded that one of the provisions of the trilateral statement by the leaders of the Russian Federation, Armenia and Azerbaijan is the opening of the Zangazur Corridor, “which means ensuring unhindered communication between the western regions of Azerbaijan and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic” through the territory of Armenia. “Almost three years later, this point of the agreement has still not been fulfilled by Armenia,” Hajiyev added.