AZG Armenian Daily #054, 25/03/2006

Armenia-Region

HOPES TO BREAK ARMENIA’S ECONOMIC BLOCKADE

Consortium on Abkhazian Railroad Rehabilitation Set Up

“Setting apart political and economic issues” was the motto that
united Russia, Georgia, Abkhazia and Armenia to begin the works of
rehabilitation of Abkhazian railroad. An ad hoc four-sided consortium
was set to carry out all works, Vladimir Badalian, representative of
Armenia in the consortium, told daily Azg.

A document signed at the session of the Russian-Georgian
intergovernmental commission in December 2005 set in motion the
creation of the consortium. Mr. Badalian says that thanks to the
efforts of Armenian-Russian and Armenian-Georgian companies they
managed to set apart economic and political issues. As a stumbling
block in this regional initiative emerged first of all the
Georgian-Abkhazian conflict. Tbilisi sought to get Georgian refugees
back to the Abkhazian region of Gali against its consent to railroad’s
reopening. The return of refugees paved a way for negations. The next
vital issue had to do with the customs station: should it be on
Georgian-Abkhazian or Russian-Abkhazian border?

Representatives of Russia, Armenia, Georgia and Abkhazia had their
first meeting within the consortium format on March 15 in Moscow and
agreed to meet again in Tbilisi in late March. After the mid-April
meeting in Yerevan the consortium will be legalized after which it
will engage in its activities. The consortium is also responsible for
fund raising. Most of the finances will be directed to demine
surrounding territories of the railroad, repair of bridges and
rails. Vladimir Badalian says that a railroad link stretching 70-80 km
is completely devoid of rails. The overall price of the project is
$150-200 million. The Russian side will cover 50 percent of the sum,
Georgia $30, Armenia and Abkhazia 10 percent. Mr. Badalian assures
that the railroad will possibly function in 1 or 2 years.

The consortium gives hope that the Abkhazian railroad will finally
function spurring development of our economy. Besides it will break
the economic blockade of Armenia by 60-70 percent opening a window not
only to Russia but also to Europe. Experts claim that reopening of the
railroad will bring new approaches in Armenian-Turkish relations – the
closed Turkish border will hence be meaningless.

By M. H