TRANSIT

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and Kazakhstan’s National Company KazMunayGas have signed a Memorandum of Strategic Cooperation for the transit of Kazakhstani oil through the territory of Azerbaijan, Trend reports.

The document was signed following a meeting between the Prime Ministers of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, Ali Asadov and Alikhan Smailov, in Baku, says Azerbaijan’s Cabinet of Ministers.

Azerbaijan's transit opportunities can make its roads an alternative to the Suez Canal, Director General of the Transit and International Affairs Department of Iran Road Maintenance and Transportation Organization (RMTO) Javad Hedayati stated.

According to the official, Azerbaijan's roads and road infrastructure are at an advanced level. Azerbaijan has invested in this direction and done great work. The Azerbaijani state has taken steps in this direction with a very clear and transparent strategy.

Zangazur corridor is important for both Azerbaijan and Armenia, a Russian economist and the Head of New Society Institute Vasily Koltashov, stated.

According to Koltashov, the Zangazur corridor will allow Armenia to realize its potential in the transit economy. He notes that Armenia needs to activate and simplify economic ties with neighboring countries.

Iran’s Roads and Urban Development Minister Rostam Qassemi said that Iran and Turkmenistan have reached agreements on several areas, including doubling rail transit.

Speaking in the opening session of the 16th Iran-Turkmenistan joint commission on economic cooperation on Tuesday, Qassemi said that the two countries had a multi-billion-dollar trade, but the coronavirus pandemic imposed some limitations.

Armenia will be supplied with natural gas from Russia, through the territory of Azerbaijan, this is a tremendous geostrategic move that connects, unlike any other time, the governments of Azerbaijan and Russia, Peter M. Tase, US expert, strategic adviser on international affairs and public diplomacy to governments, universities, and corporations in Europe and the Americas told Trend.

The fact that Azerbaijan is going to help Armenia maintain a steady supply of natural gas whether from Russia or anywhere else, is another sign of how positively and humanely Azerbaijan has behaved in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War, former US ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza told Trend.

Russian gas will be temporarily transported to Armenia through Azerbaijan due to the repair of the North Caucasus - Transcaucasia gas pipeline.