The Armenian prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has spoken about the importance of deepening and normalising relations with neighbouring countries. Addressing a government meeting in Yerevan on Wednesday (8 September) the Armenian leader reminded that while presenting the government's programme in the Armenian parliament recently, he had stated that the deepening and normalisation of relations with neighbouring countries will be one of the important directions of the government's foreign policy.
"And this is registered in the program adopted by the National Assembly, the implementation of that program has become a working agenda for us. As you know, after being reappointed as Prime Minister, I have already been able to visit the Islamic Republic of Iran, and today I am leaving for Georgia. The development of regional communications plays a significant role in the agenda of our discussions with both Iran and Georgia. In this context, I attach great importance to the North-South project, which connects our border with Iran to our border with Georgia.
"It is very important for us to establish a railway connection with the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran. To solve this problem, we are discussing the issue of reopening the communications on the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral format. Here we are determined to make efforts to achieve concrete results, realising, of course, that Azerbaijan, in turn, expects communication between its western regions and Nakhchivan."
Regarding relations with Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said, "I do not consider it necessary to remind that we are ready to resume the peace process within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing with Azerbaijan".
Referring to the issue of the demarcation of the border with Azerbaijan the Armenian prime minister said, "we continue to work to create the necessary conditions for that. We hope to complete the process of returning our captives, hostages and other detainees to Armenia as soon as possible".