ARMENIA will be able to regain access to the Russian Railways (RZD) network via Azerbaijan, according to the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, as efforts continue to restore transport links in the South Caucasus following years of political tension.
During an interview with state television earlier this month, Aliyev stressed that all nations in the region will eventually benefit from improving connectivity, with Armenia also gaining rail access to Iran as well as Russia.
Rail connectivity has been in the spotlight in the South Caucasus over the past 12 months, as diplomatic relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan have been returning to normal following decades of tension and occasional armed conflict. Fighting damaged some sections of the railway network and investment will be required to restore cross-border links.
Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, has asked Russia to reopen lines to Armenia’s borders with Azerbaijan and Turkey. "I have appealed to our Russian partners with a request to urgently engage in, in particular, the full restoration of railways on the sections from Eraskh to Azerbaijan, to the Nakhichevan border, and the Akhurik section to the Turkish border," Pashinyan said in statement issued last month.
In October Aliyev announced that Azerbaijan had lifted all restrictions on transit freight traffic moving to Armenia. In early November, the Russian Ministry of Transport announced that the first grain shipment in over 30 years had been delivered from Russia to Armenia via Azerbaijan.
