Following a meeting on Wednesday with Director General of the Russian Railways Oleg Belozyorov in Yerevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced the establishment of a working group to address issues concerning the efficiency of the concession management of the South Caucasus Railway company—an Armenian and Russian joint effort that oversees the railway system in Armenia.
According to the decision published on e-gov.am, the working group is tasked with identifying potential solutions to these issues and defining subsequent steps within a three-month period.
Davit Ivanyan, Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure, has been appointed as the head of the working group.
Pashinyan and Belozyorov had reached an agreement Wednesday to form a joint working group to address these issues. For some time now, Yerevan has been proposing that the management of the Armenian railways be transferred to a third country—one acceptable to both Armenia and Russia. Russia has responded by stating that, should the terms of the concession be altered or the agreement terminated, they would demand the recovery of their investments, amounting to $400 million.
Following his meeting with Pashinyan, Belozyorov told Azatutyun.am that the issue of terminating the concession had not been discussed; furthermore, there was no mention of such a possibility in the official statement released by the Armenian government.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Pashinyan said: “We have no issue with the Russian concession; our concern is simply that our railway must be competitive.” According to Pashinyan, Russia stated that they would address the issue of making the railway competitive, and Armenia agreed.”
“Our analyses aimed at achieving this goal indicate that a rational approach would be to alter the concession management framework — specifically, by delegating it to third countries,” Pashinyan said.
“However, if our Russian partners say they know how to resolve this issue, they can propose solutions,” he said. “As a result of yesterday’s discussion, I said: ‘Very well, let us form a working group that will provide, within a three-month timeframe, answers as to how Armenia’s railways can become competitive.’”
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