Allowing the exclusion of Armenia from important transportation routes would
stymie the emergence of the region as an important East-West trade corridor:
US Congresswoman

Arminfo Agency
2007-04-28 17:37:00

Allowing the exclusion of Armenia from important transportation
routes would stymie the emergence of the region as an important
East-West trade corridor, US Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney said
at the US Congress.

The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) told ArmInfo that the
US Senators and Representatives joined Armenians around the world this
week in commemorating the 92nd anniversary of the Armenian Genocide in
statements on the floors of their respective chambers of Congress. "I
join with the chorus of voices that grows louder with each passing
year. We simply will not allow ice planned elimination of an entire
people to remain in the shadows of history. The Armenian Genocide must
be acknowledged, studied, and never, ever allowed to happen again,"
Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney emphasized.

Touching upon the construction of a new railway that bypasses Armenia,
she pointed out: "American tax dollars should not be used to support
efforts to isolate Armenia, and these provisions would prevent that
by ensuring that U.S. funds are not used to support the construction
of a new railway that bypasses Armenia. A railway already exists
that connects the nations of Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, but
because it crosses Armenia, an expensive and unnecessary new railway
had been proposed. Allowing the exclusion of Armenia from important
transportation routes would stymie the emergence of this region as
an important East-West trade corridor. It is in our economic and
security interests to ensure that the aggression against Armenia
comes to an end."

To remind, the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway was "frozen" by the Turkish
Government in 1992 for political reasons. On September 21, 2006, the
members of the US Senate banking commission unanimously voted for
the suggestion made by Senator Robert Menendes, under which the US
Export-Import Bank was to allocate no loans or other funds for the
construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway. According to the
preliminary data, about 2 years will be spent on the construction
of the new railway and its capacity will be about 20 mln tons of
cargoes. Within the framework of the Baku-Tbilisi-Akhalkalaki railway
project, the engineer works were started in 2001. In late August
2006, Turkish Transport Minister Binal Yildirim said that China and
Kazakhstan joined the project of the construction of the railway trunk.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress