Armenia is ready to ensure an automobile connection between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a speech at the Council of Europe.

“Armenia is ready to provide road connectivity between Azerbaijan’s western regions and the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic using the existing infrastructure along the Kornidzor–Goris–Yeghegnadzor–Yerask route,” he said, according to Panorama.am .

Pashinyan explained that Armenia is making this proposal because it also uses alternative routes through Azerbaijan’s railway network and expects a railway connection between Armenia’s north and south via Nakhichevan.

“This has no alternative for Armenia, because the country’s mountainous terrain does not allow a direct railway connection between the south and the north,” he said.

The prime minister also stated that Armenia has no intention of delaying the implementation of agreements reached in Washington, particularly the TRIPP project, Sputnik Armenia reported.

“We have said that even today we are ready to ensure transit from Azerbaijan to Turkey and in the opposite direction. This is something we can already implement using existing communication routes. However, neither Turkey nor Azerbaijan has taken advantage of this opportunity so far.

I think one of the reasons may be that they believe this solution could delay the implementation of TRIPP. I officially state that Armenia has neither the intention nor the reason to delay the TRIPP project, because it fully corresponds to Armenia’s short-term, medium-term and long-term goals,” Pashinyan said.

He stressed that implementing the project cannot in any way call into question Armenia’s territorial integrity or sovereignty.

Pashinyan also said Armenia is interested in using the Georgia–Azerbaijan railway line for export purposes. He expressed hope that Azerbaijan could also become a destination for Armenian exports in the future, noting that Armenia has already imported petroleum products from Azerbaijan.

On August 8 in Washington, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed a seven-point joint declaration. The document envisages the creation of a strategic transit road through Armenia’s southern Syunik Province, called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), which would provide Azerbaijan with trade access to Nakhchivan.

In addition, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan and Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov initialed the agreement “On the establishment of peace and interstate relations between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan” in the presence of the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United States.

Pashinyan also said earlier that Armenia had not leased land to the United States for 99 years but had granted construction rights.