Our perception and wish for the east-west continuation of the railway is that it should enter Meghri from Azerbaijan, then Nakhchivan, then Yeraskh, continue to Turkey’s border — at Akhurik. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated this in his address Friday at the “Crossroads of Peace: Developing Regional Communications” conference in Yerevan.

“We [i.e. Armenia] have a very short section for restoration; we have already started working on it,” Pashinyan added.

He noted that the construction of the Kars-Dilucu railway — that is, the railway from Turkey’s Kars city to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave — has already begun in Azerbaijan.

“Our [i.e. Armenia’s] position, which we share with our partners, is the following: this historic turning point — the Washington peace summit — provides an opportunity not to spend several billion dollars here in the case when it will be possible to secure the same route here via the Akhurik–Yeraskh route. And ,of course, we are working in this direction to form such understanding and agreement,” the Armenian premier said.

In his address, Pashinyan again emphasized US President Donald Trump’s role in the ongoing processes.

“Of course, in the previous period, the Armenia–Azerbaijan peace process had fairly positive progress, but there were also visible difficulties. President Trump’s personal involvement was the decisive factor that enabled us to be able to reach this agreement. Our timeline is as follows: by the end of the year, finalize legal or statutory issues with an already formulated text; in the first half of 2026, adopt all decisions arising from it regarding the establishment of the joint venture, construction rights, supposed decisions for the government and other institutions; and in the second half of 2026, begin the actual construction work,” the Armenian PM said.

Also, Nikol Pashinyan noted that in Copenhagen, he had discussed the matter with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and concluded that perhaps the fastest implementation could be the construction of power transmission lines and the natural gas pipeline.

“Nothing prevents the implementation of the project, because all problematic issues have been addressed in the Washington declaration; all we have to do is implement the agreement. And no one has any motivation not to implement the agreement,” the Armenian premier added.