Gas deal between Armenia, Azerbaijan to speed up signing peace

There is a new vision on the horizon in the relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. As is known, Armenia returned four villages of the Qazakh district, and the delimitation and demarcation process started between the two countries.

Right after this news, Yerevan voiced its interest in purchasing natural gas from Azerbaijan. In a comment to the local media outlets, Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Alen Simonyan said that Armenia should consider importing natural gas from Azerbaijan. He noted that laying a natural gas pipeline from Azerbaijan and Iran and buying natural gas from those countries is a very good option. However Simonyan added that there were no such discussion between the sides. To the question whether Armenia can buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, he responded that he is very positive about it and the sides need to discuss this matter.

It is worth noting that the Azerbaijani sides reportedly did not rule out the possibility of gas supplies to Armenia after securing peace with Armenia.

Speaking to Azernews on the issue, political analyst Samir Humbatov noted that there is no problem with Azerbaijan selling gas to Armenia, if there is an agreement between the parties and come to peace. He underscored that Azerbaijan has already exported its gas to the world market and neighboring countries.

"There is nothing unusual or problematic here. It is even more convenient to sell the gas to neighboring countries, because there is an issue of communication lines here. Of course, trade can influence the consolidation of peace and the formation of peace. I think that if Azerbaijan sells gas to Armenia and Armenia really wants to buy gas from Azerbaijan, it can give impetus to the strengthening of trade relations between the sides. I think this can be considered as a rather positive trend," Humbatov said.

He added that if such cooperation takes place between the sides and if the sides can strengthen trade relations, this can have a positive effect not only on bilateral relations, but also on regional relations. He recalled that Azerbaijan already sells gas to Georgia, and Azerbaijan can sell gas to Armenia in the same form. In any case, this will be a successful option for Armenia, and in turn, it can affect the development of the region.

"It should be noted that both Azerbaijan and Armenia benefit from this business. All these are important conditions. One can think about it, but again, a lot depends on the position of the political authorities here. I think that Azerbaijan is a country that is always ready to cooperate in this matter. If Armenia takes a right step in this regard, the result will be clear for both Armenia and Azerbaijan," Samir Humbatov concluded.