YEREVAN, August 13. /ARKA/. Armenia wants to resolve the railway issue with Russia amicably and avoid drastic measures, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said, commenting on the topic of concession management of the South Caucasus Railway by the Russian Railways company.
According to him, this approach implies mutual understanding and consideration of each other's interests, as well as a willingness to compromise.
“One of such compromises could be the sale by Russian Railways of the concession rights to the railway. This sale could be full or partial, meaning that certain share configurations are possible that would not hinder this historical opportunity for Armenia to integrate into the international transport network,” Pashinyan said at a briefing on Thursday.
The Prime Minister emphasized that he does not see a problem with Armenia's railway being managed by a Russian company and that he respects and understands Russia's interests. At the same time, he noted that the current situation hinders the historical opportunity for the country to integrate into the international railway network. Pashinyan explained that participants in the international logistics market do not show investment interest in the relevant section and tend to avoid this topic.
“We understand that the reason lies in the fact that our railway is under Russian concession. Our problem is not with Russia; our problem is the situation that has developed,” the Prime Minister stressed.
He added that various models are being discussed at a conceptual level, as direct termination of the contract is not a friendly step.
“A friendly option would be if our Russian partners sold the concession rights to a third party at a normal market price. Experts are already naming amounts, objectively assessing how much this could cost, and we are talking about quite a significant sum given the current situation,” Pashinyan said, noting that this option may not fully satisfy the Russian partners.
According to him, other alternative options are also being discussed with experts, particularly a management model where one share would be retained while another would be alienated in such a way that a minority share would remain.
The Prime Minister also allowed for the possibility of splitting the license into two parts, as currently the railway, infrastructure, and use of infrastructure are combined in one package.
“Work is underway to understand where the point is at which we can find this friendly solution,” Pashinyan said.
