MIKHEIL SAAKASHVILI: GEORGIA NOT GOING TO CAPITALIZE ON TRANSIT OF GOODS TO ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2009-06-24 20:13:00

ArmInfo. Georgia is not going to capitalize on the transit of goods to
Armenia, President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili says in an interview
with the Armenian Public Television.

He said Georgia does not strive to abuse the dominating position in
the sphere of transit and cause any damage to Armenia. On the other
hand, the railway of Georgia must operate and bring profit. To come
out of this situation, it is necessary to boost the economic ties
of the two states and increase the commodity turnover. The higher
is commodity turnover the lower will be the transit tariffs, he
said. As regards the possible opening of Upper Lars checkpoint on
the Russian-Georgian border, M. Saakashvili said Russia closed it
in 2005 making no exception for Armenia. Georgia sees no problems
in cargo traffic and free movement of the neighbors even if only its
neighbors gain from that. Now Georgia is waiting for the reply from
Russia for it is the Russian party that sent official proposal to
open the checkpoint, he said.