Pashinyan welcomes beginning of trade with Azerbaijan, says border with Turkey will open soon
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has praised Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev for his announcement that trade restrictions with Armenia would be lifted. Additionally, as part of the larger project of opening regional transit and cargo connections, Pashinyan said Armenia was ready to begin allowing the transit of goods from Turkey to Azerbaijan, through Armenian territory.
Pashinyan made the comments during remarks at the 2025 Tbilisi Silk Road Forum on Wednesday, a day after Aliyev announced that the restrictions had been lifted.
‘This is an extremely important announcement, and I would like to express my appreciation to the President of Azerbaijan for this step and to welcome the statement’, Pashinyan said, adding that the transit of goods from Azerbaijan to Armenia would have been ‘unthinkable’ even a few months ago.
The previous day, Aliyev said the first tranche of goods — a shipment of Kazakh grain — was going to be transported to Armenia from Azerbaijan.
Separately, Pashinyan said, ‘We are ready, not only politically but also technically, starting today, to ensure the transit of freight trucks through Armenian territory from Turkey to Azerbaijan and from Azerbaijan to Turkey’.
The same is true for transit in both directions from Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through Armenian territory, Pashinyan added, while acknowledging that ‘technically, we are not yet ready due to the lack of infrastructure’.
Restoration works are required for rail links to be opened in all directions, Pashinyan said.
‘I am confident, and you can be assured, that these technical issues will be resolved within the next two to three years’.
Pashinyan also spoke about the planned connection between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, known as the Trump Route or TRIPP.
‘We confirm our determination to pursue efforts in good faith to achieve this goal in the most expeditious manner’, Pashinyan said, without adding a timeline for when the project would be completed.
In August, Aliyev and Pashinyan held a historic meeting in Washington, hosted by US President Donald Trump, during which a peace deal was initialled, but not signed.
As part of the ongoing peace process, the two countries have been working to normalise relations and open their long-closed borders for trade and other regional connectivity links.
Nate Ostiller
