Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of Armenia-related top news as of 16.12.21:

•             During the meeting in Brussels with the president of Azerbaijan [Ilham Aliyev], Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia reaffirmed their agreement on the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadis railway. According to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, this agreement was reached as a result of the Armenia-Russia-Azerbaijan trilateral working group discussions dealing with the opening of regional communications.

"And all this was recorded also at the meeting in Brussels that was held mediated by President Charles Michel of the European Council," he said.

The railway will operate in accordance with internationally accepted border and customs rules, on the principle of reciprocity, and under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the countries it will run along.

•             French President Emmanuel Macron took to his Twitter after his trilateral meeting in Brussels with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“We will always seek solutions to lasting peace. I call for the holiday season to be one of the humanitarian advances, one of appeasement,” Macron added.

A trilateral meeting between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, President Emmanuel Macron of France, and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan took place in Brussels after the end of the Eastern Partnership Summit. The meeting took place on the initiative of the French President.

•             A total of $1.2 billion will be spent on the construction of two sections of the railway with Azerbaijan, minister of economy of Armenia, Vahan Kerobyan, told reporters on Thursday.

He explained that the largest respective project is the construction of a railway to Horadiz city and that this could cost more than $1 billion.

Kerobyan added that another large project is the construction of a new railway at the Meghri city section of Armenia and that this may cost about $200 million.

•             After his talks in Brussels with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia on Thursday received President Arayik Harutyunyan of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh).

•             As of Thursday morning, 180 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Armenia, and the total number of these cases has reached 343,157 in the country, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also, 18 more deaths from COVID-19 were registered, making the respective total 7,874 cases.