Following a visit to the Yerablour military cemetery in Yerevan, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan informed reporters that Armenian and Azerbaijani specialists, working with Russian colleagues, had made progress in attempts to reopen railway lines between the two countries.

"Our working group is focused on very particular challenges and objectives, such as the development of the Armenian parts of the railroad," Grigoryan explained.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev reaffirmed their earlier agreement to restore the railway that used to run from Armenian Yeraskh to Julfa and Ordubad in Nakhchivan, and from there to Armenian Meghri, during a meeting in Brussels on December 14 convened by European Council President Charles Michel.

According to Pashinyan, the railroad will function within the sovereignty and authority of the nations, in compliance with recognised international border and customs regulations based on reciprocity.

The Armenian government established a task group to manage operations on the railway earlier this month.

Artashes Tumanyan, a former ambassador to Iran who is now an advisor to Nikol Pashinyan, leads the 10-member task committee. Every three months, Tumanyan is to report to the Prime Minister on the status of the project.

The 45-kilometre railway across southern Armenia will be part of larger transit linkages between the two nations, giving Armenia access to Iran and Russia via Azerbaijan. The Russian-brokered ceasefire agreed by the presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Russia in the fall of 2020 to end the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh calls for the railway to be reopened.