Bill Prohibiting Construction Of Railway Bypassing Armenia Is SouthC

BILL PROHIBITING CONSTRUCTION OF RAILWAY BYPASSING ARMENIA IN SOUTH CAUCASUS SUBMITTED TO US SENATE

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
March 29 2006

Yerevan, March 29. /ARKA/. A bill prohibiting the construction
of a railway bypassing Armenia in the South Caucasus
(Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baklu) estimated at $800mln. Armenian
Assembly of America reports that the bill was authored by Rick Santorum
and Robert Menendez.

The planned construction of the railway in the South Caucasus will
not only impinge the USA’s long-term interests in the region, but
also result in Armenia’s isolation, Santorum said. The USA’s policy
in the South Caucasus encourages regional stability, cooperation and
re-opening of borders and transport corridors, he added.

In May 2005, in Baku, the Azerbaijani, Georgian and Turkish
Presidents pronounced for the creation of an international transport
corridor Kars-Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Baku. They backed up the project of
constructing a railway between Kars and Akhalkalaki. Armenia is against
this project as economically unsound, because the new railway will
be constructed despite the existence of the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi-Baku
railway.