Russia and Azerbaijan to discuss unblocking communications in South Caucasus

Moscow and Baku will discuss the matter of unblocking of transport communications in the South Caucasus, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk said.

"At the end of next week, I have a meeting scheduled with the Azerbaijani side. We will discuss these issues there. So things are moving forward,” Overchuk said.

When asked about the venue of this meeting, he said it will be held in Russia.

The Russian deputy PM also noted that there is a trilateral working group at the level of Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian deputy PMs. The group is working on the implementation of the 9th point of the November 9-10,2020 trilateral statement, discussing in detail the nuances of unblocking transport links in the South Caucasus.

Therefore, he noted, Russia is interested in knowing how much progress Baku and Yerervan have made in resolving the issues that were discussed within the framework of the trilateral working group. Some nuances touch upon Russia's interests in the South Caucasus, primarily from the point of view of the development of railway communication. Therefore, Moscow is keen to learn whether solutions have been found for these issues.

According to him, once the issues are resolved, the next step will involve translating agreements into technical and economic feasibility studies, evaluating project economics, and working on unblocking the transport routes. 

"But again, this will require trilateral efforts within the framework of the cooperation we have had and continue to have with Armenia and Azerbaijan," Overchuk said.

An informed source told Trend that Russia will host the 23rd session of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation between Azerbaijan and Russia next week. The co-chairs of the commission are Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Overchuk and Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev.