NEW ARMENIAN-GEORGIAN ROAD TO BOOST REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION
Hayots Ashkharh
October 2, 2008 Thursday
Armenia
The future road that will connect Armenia to Georgia’s region of
Ajaria via the Armenian-populated Georgian region of Javakheti will
offer new economic benefits for Armenia and will give Georgia access
to the Black Sea, alternative to the one that comes through the road
adjacent to the Georgian-South-Ossetian border.
In the report entitled "What will the Gyumri-Akhalkalaki-Batumi road
give?", Vardan Grigoryan writes that the Russian-Georgian war proved
that the Gori and Khashuri sections of the road leading to the west of
Georgia and Ajaria and the railroad that runs along those areas are
not reliable enough because they are too close to the South Ossetian
border. The author of the report says that a contemporary road leading
from Javakheti to Ajaria could largely neutralize possible risks
faced by Armenia and become the second communication route passing
through Georgia.
Grigoryan says that plans to build a railroad in the same direction
existed in the Soviet time, but the Georgian government rejected
them, and former Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia also rejected
Armenia’s suggestions to build a similar road, because Ajaria did
not obey the Georgian government at that time. Grigoryan believes
that due to the changed situation in the region – after loosing South
Ossetia – Georgia now needs this road because the current road that
connects its capital Tbilisi to the Black Sea ports passes along the
Georgian-Ossetian border.
The new road will allow speedy transportation of Armenian loads
to the port of Batumi, Grigoryan writes. It will pass through
Samtskhe-Javakheti region and is called to improve the region’s
economic situation and balance "unilateral Turkish penetrations" into
Javakheti, the author believes. Grigoryan says that instead of being a
joint of Turkish-Georgian interests, Ajaria will turn into an important
link in economic cooperation of the three countries in a while.