Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, at today’s final session of a working group tasked with addressing the issues facing the country’s southern Syunik Province, said that the region’s future development is essentially based on the opening of regional transportation links.

Pashinyan, in this context, claimed that the government, via the working group, allocated 1.1 billion drams in 2021 to develop Syunik and strengthen it in the face of external and internal challenges.

He said the government has also launched an AMD 9.9 billion program to reform public education in Syunik and that the model is now being tested in Kapan, the provincial capital.

“I would like to remind you that because of cooperation with the European Union, it is planned to implement a program of about 80 million euros in Syunik, within the framework of the program to increase the resilience of the region,” Pashinyan said according to a government press release.

Pashinyan said construction is underway to finalize the Sisian-Kajaran and Kajaran-Agarak sections of the North-South Highway and that his government has started preparations for the construction of the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway.

Noting that the opening regional transportation links poses risks, Pashinyan stressed that the process also presents great opportunities.

"We must work diligently and patiently to manage the dangers and emphasize the opportunities, to be able to serve the further normal development of the Republic of Armenia, including Syunik," Pashinyan said.