A working group will be set up between Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan to deal with the opening of closed borders in the region and the unblocking of economic, trade and transport ties. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this during a meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“The unblocking of economic, trade and transport ties in the region and the opening of borders deserve special attention.  It is envisaged that a trilateral working group chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministers of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan will deal with these issues,” Putin said.

The meeting of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is taking place in the Kremlin.

Earlier, Mane Gevorgyan informed that the pre-planned agenda of the trilateral meeting is of economic nature, which refers to the opening of regional communications, international cargo transportation, including from Armenia to the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as from central parts of Armenia via Nakhichevan to Syunik region.

“The Azerbaijani side and some Armenian circles are constantly circulating the topic of the so-called “Meghri Corridor”, but as it has been mentioned many times, the trilateral statement of 9 November does not include any provision on creating a corridor through Meghri or Armenia.

For the Armenian side, however, the issue of the return of the captives, the search and rescue operations of our soldiers left in the rear of the Azeris, the search for the bodies of the victims, the fate of the missing are crucial. Without a solution to these issues or significant progress, it will be extremely difficult to effectively discuss the economic agenda, and the Armenian side considers the discussion of this issue one of the key topics of the Moscow meeting.

I would also like to emphasize that Moscow does not plan to sign a document on the settlement of the Karabakh issue or any territorial issue. If it is possible to reach an agreement on the issues on the agenda, ie economic issues, the exchange of prisoners, the issue of missing persons, it is possible to sign a joint statement on the results of the meeting,” said Mane Gevorgyan.