ARMENIA DOUBTS RAILWAY TRAFFIC THROUGH GEORGIA MAY RESUME SOON

ITAR-TASS News Agency
September 25, 2007 Tuesday

Armenia is skeptical about the outlook for early restoration of
the railway link with Russia through Georgia due to the unsettled
Georgian-Abkhazian dispute, Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian told a
news conference at Itar-Tass.

"This is a great issue for our country, because the lack of ground
transport links is a brake on Armenia’s economic development," he
said. "We would like to see early restoration of railway traffic,
but it will be hardly possible in the near future."

Sarkisian appreciated the role of Russian military guarding Armenia’s
southern border.

"I visited a Russian border guard garrison just recently to see for
myself that the conditions for the Russian guards are favorable and
they cope with their mission quite well."