Pashinyan seeks balance for the sake of sovereignty

Armenia is on the path of building interstate relations with Turkey and Azerbaijan, since ensuring sovereignty and independence in a state of conflict is impossible, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the SCO+ meeting.

He recalled that Armenia pursues a balanced policy: "if the pull of some geopolitical center of power grows so strong that it could destroy the country's independence, then Yerevan intensifies ties with another pole in order to maintain balance and ensure sovereignty and independence."

Pashinyan noted that in recent years Armenia has signed agreements on strategic cooperation with Georgia, China, Kazakhstan, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Lithuania. Relations with Iran and India are in fact strategic in nature. And Yerevan is working on formalizing them in documents.

While developing relations with friendly Iran and Georgia, according to the Armenian prime minister, Yerevan is moving toward establishing state relations with two other neighbors — Turkey and Azerbaijan. He pointed out that "this process became more substantive after peace was established through the mediation of U.S. President Donald Trump."

Yerevan is now working with Baku and Ankara on opening communications, including with the help of the TRIPP project, whose implementation on the ground will begin in the coming months.

Pashinyan said that this would open up transport opportunities not only from East to West (from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean), but also from South to North (from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea). Thus, the Armenian prime minister assures, all the countries of the region will benefit from the project's implementation.

Source: Sputnik Armenia