TAX PAYER DOLLARS WON’T BE SPENT ON KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION

PanARMENIAN.Net
15.06.2006 15:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Members of the House Financial Services Committee
adhere to U.S. policy goals of regional cooperation and economic
integration by ensuring that no Export-Import funding would be used
for a proposed rail link project that would connect Turkey, Georgia
and Azerbaijan, while bypassing Armenia, the Armenian Assembly of
America reported.

Lawmakers approved H.R. 5068, the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization
Act of 2006, which included an amendment introduced by Congressman
Joseph Crowley (D-NY), along with Congressmen Edward Royce (R-CA)
and Brad Sherman (D-CA), ensuring that taxpayer dollars will not be
spent on efforts that would exclude Armenia from regional projects
and commercial opportunities.

Unanimous approval of this amendment by the House Financial Services
Committee sends a strong message that it does not endorse attempts to
undermine U.S. policy goals, which seeks to normalize Armenian-Turkish
relations and to reach a peaceful settlement in the Nagorno Karabakh
conflict. Moreover, the Committee’s action echoes recent statements
made by Ambassador-Designate to Azerbaijan, Anne Derse, who indicated
that the proposed railroad would "not be beneficial to regional
integration…"

"With this amendment, we are sending a message to the governments of
Turkey and Azerbaijan that continually excluding Armenia in regional
projects fosters instability," Crowley told Members of the Committee. "
If the Caucasus region is to move forward, we must ensure that all
countries move forward together at the same time."

The legislation, which also has a Senate counterpart, would prohibit
U.S. assistance for the promotion or development of a railroad that
would connect the three countries and exclude Armenia. The House bill
currently has 85 cosponsors.

Sherman, who also addressed the Committee, said that the European Union
has already publicly indicated that it will not finance a rail project
in which Armenia is not involved. "Export-Import made a huge mistake
when it approved finance guarantees for the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline in
2003," Sherman told the Assembly. "This amendment puts Congress on
record opposing a repeat of that fiasco embodied by this ill-conceived
and wasteful rail project." "Our foreign assistance should help end
conflict by fostering cooperation," Sherman continued. "We should
not entrench divisions by financing projects which exclude countries
friendly to the United States."

The next step in the legislative process is a vote in the full House
on H.R. 5068.