The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister, Azerbaijani Co-Chair of the Azerbaijan-Iran State Commission for Economic, Trade and Humanitarian Cooperation Shahin Mustafayev and Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Iranian Co-Chair of the Commission Mehrdad Bazrpash.
The new bridge will be a part of the communications between the mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan with subsequent access to Türkiye —that is, the “Zangezur Corridor”, which was supposed to go through the territory of Armenia, but the opening of which was inexcusably “delayed” by Yerevan.
The most convenient route from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean lies through the territory of Armenia. But in the late eighties, it was Yerevan that chose the tactic of blocking communications and railroad blockade of Nakhchivan. The opening of communications was agreed upon back in November 2020, but Armenia did nothing to this end. As a result, Armenia once again missed the chance to join major economic projects in the region and “cemented” its infrastructure isolation. The work on the construction of a new communication hub is going on without it. On September 25 this year, the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed a protocol on the construction of the Kars-Nakhchivan railroad.
On March 11, 2022, Azerbaijan and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on laying communications between the East Zangezur economic region and NAR through the territory of Iran. In September, Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Rustam Ghasimi broke the ground for another road bridge near the village of Agbend. Experts know that the traffic flow expected here will be so high that one bridge will not be enough to handle it even in theory.
In this scenario, Azerbaijan simply does not need Armenia. Our country is opening a road to Nakhchivan via Iran. This not only solves the problems of NAR, but also increases the potential of the East-West transport corridor, expands communication and logistics interaction between the countries of the region and creates new opportunities for all stakeholders. Armenia had a chance to bring this traffic flow to its territory, but it squandered it away. And this is no longer our problem.
