BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. Around 75% of
the railway project forming the Azerbaijani section of the Zangezur
Corridor has been completed, while the corresponding road project
is about 95% complete, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov
said, Trend's
correspondent reports from the event.
Bayramov made the remarks while answering journalists’ questions
at a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan
Fidan in Baku.
The minister said the Zangezur Corridor is of particular
importance for connectivity between Azerbaijan and Türkiye and for
the Europe-Asia and Europe-Central Asia links.
He noted that work is already underway on the 224-kilometer
Kars-Igdir-Dilucu section in Türkiye.
"Work on creating new transport infrastructure in mainland
Azerbaijan is progressing rapidly," Bayramov said.
According to him, the road project toward the Armenian border in
mainland Azerbaijan is about 95% complete, while the railway
project is about 75% complete. Both projects on the Azerbaijani
side are scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2027.
The minister said the other section of the project involves
around 190 kilometers of railway connectivity in the Nakhchivan
Autonomous Republic.
"As you know, this railway existed back in the Soviet era.
However, it had been virtually unused for more than 30 years.
Therefore, reconstruction work in this area is important, and work
has now also begun there," he added.
Bayramov noted that following the sections of the corridor in
Türkiye and Nakhchivan, the missing link is the approximately
42-kilometer section running through Armenia.
He recalled that one of the agreements reached at last year’s
Washington summit concerned the TRIPP project. According to him,
the project envisages the development of transport infrastructure
along this 42-kilometer section, which forms part of the Zangezur
Corridor.
"Our American partners regularly provide us with updates on the
progress of the work," the minister said.
Bayramov stressed that although the communications are located
on Armenian territory, both the entry and exit points of this
section are on Azerbaijani territory, namely at the Azerbaijani
border, and the corridor can operate only in this
configuration.
According to the latest information received by the Azerbaijani
side, design work and the establishment of the company are
currently underway and are expected to be completed this year.
Physical construction is planned to begin in early 2027.
"This is the latest information. Overall, it is believed that
once physical work begins, this section can also be completed in a
relatively short period. After all, the area itself is not large.
We are talking about a distance of slightly more than 40
kilometers," Bayramov said.
He added that this section could also be completed within a
relatively short period. This would provide a direct connection
between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan through Armenia.
According to Bayramov, establishing connectivity to Türkiye via
Nakhchivan and from there to the main transport infrastructure of
Türkiye and Azerbaijan will create a new and important route
extending from Europe to Central Asia through Türkiye and
Azerbaijan.
