ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
January 10, 2005 Monday 10:57 AM Eastern Time
Russia, Georgia to launch railway ferry service (adds)
By Eka Mekuzla
TBILISI
Georgia and Russia have agreed to launch railway ferry service
between the Georgian port of Poti and the Russian port of Kavkaz.
Georgian Economic Development Minister Aleksi Aleksishvili and
Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin signed three relevant
documents in Tbilisi on Monday.
Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, who attended the signing ceremony, said
“The agreements and the launching of ferry service between the ports
of Poti and Kavkaz will create positive tendencies in the development
of trade relations between Georgia and Russia.”
The documents cover ferry service, carriage rules, and temporary
ferry operation rules. “The temporary ferry operation rules will be
in force till February, when railway carriage member-countries are to
hold a meeting on the ferry service,” Levitin said.
The Poti-Kavkaz ferry service will also be available to Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Central Asian countries.
The ferry will make its first trip in late January. At first it will
run once in three days and transport 25 railway carriages.
The launching of the ferry service is very important since there has
been no railway communication between Russia and Georgia in the last
12 years. It was suspended in August 1992 after a military conflict
had broken out in the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.