Armenpress

YEREVAN-BATUMI RAILWAY COMMUNICATION TO RESUME IN SUMMER

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS: Transport and
communication minister Andranik Manukian said a
railway link between Armenian capital Yerevan and
Batumi, capital of Georgia’s autonomous region of
Ajaria, will resume this summer for Armenian
holiday-makers.
The railway link between the Armenian capital and
the Georgian resort town on the Black Sea coast
reopened last year after 14 years of halt. An
estimated 45,000 Armenians spent their summer
vacations in Ajaria last year, significantly up from
20,000 in 2005.
The train from Yerevan will again make stops in
Gyumri, Vanadzor and Sanahin stations before crossing
the brooder into Georgia. Ticket prices will remain
affordable, 18, 000 drams for a double compartment and
9,300 drams for four-passenger compartment.
In an interview to a Georgian newspaper earlier
this week Armenian ambassador to Georgia, Hrach
Silvanian, said trade turnover between Georgia and
Armenia in the first three quarters of 2006 exceeded
USD 90 million, tangibly up from the same period in
2005.
In an interview with Svobodnaya Gruzia (Free
Georgia), Russian-language newspaper Silvanian said
Georgian exports to Armenia surged by a staggering
54.3 percent, and Armenian exports to Georgia
increased by 19.4 percent.