A special division will be created in RA, which will ensure the safety of communications passing through our territory. Pashinyan

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan participated in the "Silk Road" international conference in Tbilisi. Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Gharibashvili, Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazovich, Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov and other high-ranking officials, representatives of international organizations also participated in the event.

In his speech, Prime Minister Pashinyan presented the "Crossroads of Peace" project of the RA government and its principles.

In his speech, the Prime Minister specifically noted.

"Dear Prime Ministers,

Dear conference participants,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor for me to participate in the Tbilisi "Silk Road" conference, which is being held for the fourth time, and to be part of this important discussion. I would like to express my gratitude to the Government of Georgia and personally to Prime Minister Garibashvili for the important initiative to hold this conference and for the warm hospitality.

We all know the phrase "Silk Road" from school textbooks. Many people, I am sure, do not remember many details about the historical holes and events of the Silk Road times. But the historical term "Silk Road" is associated in all of our minds with prosperity, peace, development, cooperation, because the Silk Road passed through many countries and settlements, and these roads were used to create human, cultural, economic and political ties, to get to know each other better.

On those roads, people transported not only goods, but also stories, customs, traditions, knowledge, and skills. The road connects not only countries and cities, but also people, and therefore, if a busy, active road is a sign of cooperation, peace, success, closed roads indicate problems.

We know this from our own example. Our roads are open with two of our four neighbors, which indicates the friendliness of our relations with them. Our paths are closed with two of our neighbors, which is a very telling testimony of the complexities in the relationship. But I did not come today to tell about our difficult relations, I want to say that without roads it will be very difficult to build peace.

It is obvious that our region, the South Caucasus, needs peace. And what is peace? It is a state when countries live with open borders, are connected by active economic, political, cultural and human ties, have accumulated experience and tradition of solving all issues diplomatically and through dialogue. This is the real peace, and as you can see, all that, i.e. open borders, economic, political, cultural ties are not possible without roads.

This is the reason why our Government developed and presented the "Crossroads of Peace" project as an important part of the peace agenda. The key meaning of that project is the development of communications between Armenia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and the Islamic Republic of Iran by repairing, building, and operating roads, railways, pipelines, cables, power lines.

The railways passing through the south and north of Armenia have not been functioning regionally for thirty years, nor are many highways connecting the east and the west, while the reactivation of these roads would become a short and efficient route connecting the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, both by rail and road.

In the same way, these railway and automobile communications can become an effective way connecting the Gulf to the Black Sea, including the Georgian ports. This program will bring enormous benefits to all countries in our region and I want to draw the attention of Governments, private investors to this opportunity.

After the speech, during the event, representatives of my team will distribute brochures about our project to the participants of the conference, and we will be happy to hear feedback and receive support on the way to implement the project.

To be complete, I consider it important to emphasize the principles of "Crossroads of Peace", which are as follows.

Principle #1: All infrastructure, including highways, railways, airways, pipelines, cables, power lines, operate under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries through which they pass.

Principle number 2: Each country implements border and customs control in its territory through its state institutions, as well as ensures the security of infrastructure, including the passage of goods, vehicles, and people through them. By the way, in the near future, a special unit will be created in the law enforcement system of Armenia, whose function will be to ensure the safety of international communications passing through Armenia, the passage of goods, vehicles, people, of course, in cooperation with our Patrol Police.

Principle No. 3: The specified infrastructure can be used for both international and domestic transportation.

Principle No. 4: All countries use each other's infrastructure on the basis of equality and reciprocity. Certain simplifications of border and customs control procedures can be implemented on the basis of equality and reciprocity.

I want to reaffirm Armenia's readiness to open, re-open, reconstruct, and build all regional communications based on these principles.

And the above-mentioned principles are necessary to avoid a number of misinterpretations, misreadings, and various interpretations. In the near future, we will also officially present this project to the governments of the countries of our region, and I hope that with joint efforts, including the activity of investors, we will be able to implement it.

Dear attendees,

As I said, Crossroads for Peace is an integral part of the peace agenda. We are currently working on a draft peace and relations settlement agreement with Azerbaijan, and I hope this process will be successfully completed in the coming months.

I consider it necessary to present also the other two important principles of peace, on which we reached an agreement with Azerbaijan.

- Armenia and Azerbaijan mutually recognize each other's territorial integrity with the understanding that the territory of Armenia is 29 thousand 800 square kilometers, the territory of Azerbaijan is 86 thousand 600. This encyclopedic record was made so that the statements made by Armenia and Azerbaijan about recognizing each other's territorial integrity leave no room for saying that by recognizing the territorial integrity of the given country, the opposite country means only a part of its internationally recognized territory.

- The next principle is that Armenia and Azerbaijan agree to carry out border delimitation on the basis of the 1991 Alma-Ata Declaration. The key meaning of Alma-Ata's declaration is as follows.

- The Soviet Union ceases to exist and the 12 republics that signed the Declaration, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, recognize each other's territorial integrity, sovereignty, the inviolability of existing, that is, administrative borders, and therefore the existing administrative borders between the republics of the Soviet Union become state borders. :

As I said, we hope to sign a Peace and Relations Agreement with Azerbaijan in the coming months based on these principles.

I hope that in the near future there will be developments in the direction of opening the border between Armenia and Turkey for citizens of third countries and holders of diplomatic passports, which will also bring a positive impulse to the entire region.

Returning to the "Crossroads of Peace", I must note that it is fully included in the logic of the Silk Road and we will be happy to receive and safely transport people, vehicles, cargo, pipelines, cables, power lines on the territory of Armenia. And in conclusion, I want to wish success to the "Silk Road" conference and wish for productive work. Thank you":