ArmInfo.Yerevan is awaiting a response to the proposal for a reciprocal withdrawal of troops at the Yeraskh section, Armenia's Premier Nikol Pashinyan stated at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday.
In the context of the global and international tensions, he said: "We are responsible for defusing these tensions and finding fundamental solutions. In this context, we believe that Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks must be started as soon as possible. We should point out a need to speed up the border demarcation and delimitation and steps to enhance border security and stability," Mr Pashinyan said.
He recalled the proposal for reciprocal withdrawal of troops based on the de jure borderline between Soviet Armenia and Azerbaijan.
"Besides, we also proposed local withdrawal and are now waiting for Azerbaijan's answer. Specifically, at the Yeraskh section we proposed reciprocal withdrawal from several positions. Thus, we will resolve the problem of the hottest spots in the last year and a half. As I have said, we are waiting for Azerbaijan's response," Mr Pashinyan said. After a number of recent events, Yerevan cannot understand if Baku wants unblocking of regional communications.
"If so, our proposal hold good and we are ready to put them into practice at any moment. I have on several occasions spoken of the Armenian Crossroads project, but I do not see a need to go into details now," Mr Pashinyan said.
On March 17, the invitation of pre-qualifying tenders for the construction of the Sisian-Kajaran section of the North-South motorway was announced.
Mr Pashinyan stated that discussions on unblocking regional communications resulted in the North-South project being reorganized into the North-South-East-West project. Armenia's premier hopes the project will be implemented in a short period.
"It means that one of the byways of the North-South-East-West motorway, or the Armenian Crossroads, will connect Armenia with Iran, another byway will connect Armenia with Azerbaijan and, later, Nakhichevan with Turkey. We hope to find a construction company by the end of this year. The design stage of East-West project has not yet been completed, but we will promptly complete it under political agreements," Mr Pashinyan said.