Russia to heed Armenia interests in transport projects
By Ksenia Kaminskaya, Tigran Liloyan

ITAR-TASS News Agency
February 17, 2005 Thursday

YEREVAN, February 17 — Russia would maximally take into account the
interests of Armenia in transport projects, the Armenian government’s
press service said.

It said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Armenian Prime
Minister Andranik Margaryan discussed this topic at their meeting in
Yeravan on Thursday.

Armenia expressed concern over an international project of the
transport corridor North South, part of which is a plan of constructing
a railroad from Iran to Azerbaijan (Kazwin-Resht-Astara) bypassing
Armenia.

Lavrov said he would inform the chief of Russian Railways company,
Gennady Fadeyev, about this, the press service said.

It said a memorandum on setting up a Russian-Azerbaijani-Iranian
enterprise for building the Kazwin-Resht-Astara railroad had been
signed after the recent meeting of a commission for organisation of
the transport corridor.

It is expected that a 300-kilometre stretch of the railroad will be
built within two year with assistance from Russia and Azerbaijan.

The cost of the project will be more than 600 million roubles.

Lavrov and the Armenian prime minister also discussed the time of
launching the railway-ferry crossing Caucasus-Poti.

Margaryan said Armenia attached great important to this link, as
“it will allow substantially increasing trade with Russia.”

He and Lavrov discussed prospects for resumption of a link at
Abkhazia’s segment of the Georgian railway.

The press service cited Margarayn as saying at the meeting with Lavrov
that there was the need “for rehabilitating as soon as possible and
increasing the production capacity of enterprises that had been turned
over to Russia’s property in repayment of the state debt to Russia”.

Lavrov assured that Russia was doing “everything possible for making
necessary investment in the enterprises turned over to it and ensuring
their full capacity activity”.