“This process must be carried out under the sovereignty, jurisdiction, and territorial integrity of Armenia,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “If it complies with these principles, then yes, it can be carried out. This is a matter for discussion.”
Safarian stressed the need to ensure “reciprocity” in such outsourcing. He did not clarify whether this means Yerevan wants a similar arrangement for Armenian cargo passing through Azerbaijan.
Safarian confirmed reports that the United States proposed recently that Armenian border and customs checks for the transit of people and cargo to and from Nakhichevan be outsourced to an American company. Yerevan has also received similar offers from other foreign partners, he said without elaborating.
“Several such proposals are under discussion, and I would like to point out again that if they meet Armenia's interests within the framework of lifting the blockade, they can be considered,” added the diplomat.
Some Armenian opposition leaders and other critics of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian have expressed serious concern at the U.S. proposal, saying that it would undermine Armenian sovereignty over the transport corridor to Nakhichevan passing through Syunik, a strategic Armenian province bordering Iran. They fear that Pashinian will make this and other far-reaching concessions to Baku.
Pashinian met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The two sides reported no agreements on the corridor issue afterwards. An official Armenian readout of the five-hour talks made no explicit mention of it.