Russian Railways OJSC director general Oleg Belozerov arrived in Armenia at my personal invitation. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced this at the press briefing after the Armenia government’s Cabinet session on Thursday.

A delegation led by Belozerov on Wednesday met with members of the Armenian government.

“In my opening speech [at the meeting], I noted that, in principle, we [i.e. Armenia] have no problems with the Russian concession [management of Armenia’s railway]. Our task is that our railway should be competitive,” Pashinyan said.

According to the Armenian premier, the analyses aimed at achieving this goal have shown that the rational solution is to change the concession management format.

“That is, the actual transfer of management [of Armenia’s railway] to third countries. But if our Russian partners can offer their option to resolve this issue, we are fully ready to discuss it,” the Armenian PM said.

Pashinyan added that on Wednesday he proposed forming a working group that should answer, within three months, the question of how to make Armenian railways competitive, especially since other processes are underway in parallel.

Pashinyan noted that the positions of the two parties differ with respect to the impact of the sanctions on Russia. Accordingly, the Russian side believes that they do not hinder the work of the Armenian railway, while the Armenian side sees them as a significant problem.

“We want to resolve this issue in a friendly atmosphere,” the Armenian premier added.