Iranian Company Constructing Yerevan-Tbilisi Transit Bridge

Head of Iran-Armenia Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry Hervik Yarijanian says an Iranian company is constructing the Yerevan-Tbilisi transit bridge, reiterating that it can improve the pace of transit of goods from Armenia to other countries. Speaking to ILNA news agency, Yarijanian said that in the past the consignment took between 8 to 9 hours to be shipped to Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, from the border but through opening new routes and roads, those transited consignments which are shipped from Tehran towards Yerevan can reach in shorter time.
"There are some roads under construction in Armenia which link the country to Georgia and a bridge between Armenia and Georgia is under construction as the project is carried out by an Iranian company which will boost the pace of transit of goods."

He then reacted to reopening of roads between Armenia and Azerbaijan and also this claim that Nakhchivan will be connected to Azerbaijan, and said all those efforts and remarks are the long term ideas and it cannot happen overnight because it needs some pre-conditions for reopening of the roads. He said since Iran and Armenia are strategic partners of each other and they are also neighbors, these factors cannot affect their trade. He added that despite sanctions against Iran, Armenian Government continues cooperating with Iran and they have very close relations in terms of trade, tourism, politics and economy.

Yarijanian stated that inauguration and reopening of the roads can accelerate the trade between Tehran and Yerevan and they can continue their trade faster and more agile. He said that several joint investments from Iran and Armenia are underway and it is unlikely such simple incidents to overshadow their bilateral trade. "The more access to the international markets and uses safer roads, the more Iran’s trade will be agile. He said today Iran’s roads to reach Russian market are limited but due to the strong determination of Iran and Armenia, increasing the roads and making them safer will definitely provide Iran with better routes."

Yarijanian emphasized that according to the international pacts, Azerbaijan cannot change its borders with Armenia, and Baku will not be able to use other country as its own corridor. On vaccinating Iranians with COVID-19 vaccines, he said that according to the regulations of the health ministry, those who have had their first jabs of COVID-19 vaccines abroad have to take the second doses abroad, too. He added that therefore those Iranians who had first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in Armenia have to take the second doses in that country but Armenia has its own regulations.
Therefore, according to the Armenian rules, Iranians have to stay at least five days in Armenia in order to take their second doses of vaccines. He said so far the exact details on the number of vaccinated Iranians in Armenia have not been published because Armenia publishes the details after the second jabs. - ILNA