President Ilham Aliyev clarified the issue of the Zangezur corridor's impact on the existing Northern Corridor in Iran, APA reports.
"It will only help. Because first, the North South corridor, which originally was planned and designed, goes from North, Northern Europe, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Persian Gulf; just straight line, if you look at the map, it goes on the territory of Azerbaijan, partly just by the shore of the Caspian Sea," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev emphasized.
In response to the reporter's question, "These routes converge at one point," "Now, yes. So this is an authentic North-South Corridor, which is fully built on Azerbaijani territory. We have full railroad and highway connection between the Russian border and the Iranian border. The missing part is on the territory of Iran. They need to build about 150 kilometers or more, but that will take time, maybe several years. What can happen with the connection between North and South is that it can go through Zangazur. Again, if you imagine the map, it can go from Northern Europe to Russia, to Azerbaijan, and then from Azerbaijan, it can go to Zangezur, enter Nakhchivan, and from Nakhchivan, we have a railroad connection with Iran, which goes to the Persian Gulf. Actually, the Zangazur Corridor will not only be East-West, but also a North-South transportation corridor. And instead of one North-South route from Russia to Iran through Azerbaijan, we will have another one from Russia to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Nakhchivan, and then Iran. So it will be, I think, a win-win situation for the whole region, and there will be no losers. And I know that the Iranian government, coming back to your question, understands this, and Azerbaijan will do everything in order to strengthen regional cooperation between all the countries of the region," Ilham Aliyev noted.
