RIA Novosti, Russia
Jan 9 2005
RUSSIA, GEORGIA TO BE LINKED BY FERRY CROSSING
TBILISI, January 9 (RIA Novosti) – In the framework of Russian
Transport Minister Igor Levitin’s two-day visit to Georgia, an
agreement on railway ferry communication between the Georgian port
Poti and Russian port Kavkaz (on the eastern coast of the Kerch
Strait) will be signed.
RIA Novosti was told in Georgia’s State Chancellery that a railway
train made up of 24 cars would move between the two countries’ ports
with the help of the ferry crossing every three days.
On January 10, Poti will see a symbolic ceremony of opening the ferry
communication. Before the end of the current month, experts are
supposed to coordinate the financial details of the agreement, after
which it will be implemented in practice.
Besides, at Levitin’s meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab
Zhvania, the sides will discuss technical details of creating a
consortium between the Russian Federation, Georgia, Azerbaijan and
Armenia on restoration of a railway on the territory of the
unrecognized republic of Abkhazia. The consortium, to comprise
transport officials of the four states, will have to undertake
financial commitments to carry out repairs of railroads.
Earlier, Poti mayor Vakhtang Alaniya said the existing technical
difficulties had been eliminated. “Earlier, all Armenian cargoes
[Armenia has no outlet to the sea] went through the Ukrainian port
Ilyichevsk [south of Odessa] and further to Poti. So, when the
Kavkaz-Poti ferry crossing is commissioned, the transport component
will be reduced both in terms of time and financially. On the
average, transport expenditures will reduce by 25%,” said Alaniya,
adding that cargoes would be delivered to Armenia by railway from
Poti.