ANOTHER ATTEMPT TO ISOLATE ARMENIA FROM REGIONAL ECONOMIC PROJECTS

PanARMENIAN.Net
22.03.2006 00:06 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Resumption of Abkhaz part of the railway
beneficial not only to Armenia, but also to the region on the whole,
expert economist Eduard Aghajanov stated in a conversation with a
PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. In Aghajanov’s words, the route through
Abkhazia is shorter, cheaper and more secure that the alternative
railway Russia is going to build via Iran and Azerbaijan. Russia-Iran
road is part of the North-South program, however, it is hard to
say to which extent it is economically profitable than the already
available Abkhazian one. One thing is out of question – it is another
attempt to isolate Armenia from regional economic projects. I will
add that access to Europe is also very profitable via Abkhazia. A
purely political consideration underlies all these projects – either
Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku or Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan,” he emphasized.

The matter of resumption of operation of the Abkhaz part of
the railway was discussed at a session of the Armenian-Russian
Interparliamentary Commission in Moscow. In the words of Armenian
Co-Chair, NA Vice-Speaker Vahan Hovhannisyan, Russia’s intention to
build an alternative Russia-Iran road through Azerbaijan will reduce
interest to the opening of rail communication through Abkhazia. He
remarked that a consortium is formed with participation of four
parties interested in running the Abkhaz part of the railway. However,
Russia, in his words, has not presented its representative yet, thus
hampering consortium’s activities. Vahan Hovhannisyan said that a
meeting of the consortium will be held in Yerevan in the coming days
with participation of all four parties.