TBILISI: World Economic Crisis And The South Caucasus

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE SOUTH CAUCASUS

The Messenger
Feb 11 2009
Georgia

Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian thinks that the world economic
crisis will increase the role of the South Caucasus. He stated this
during his appearance at the Munich conference on Security Issues.

According to Sarkisian the South Caucasus could provide a new model
of development of energy supply and transportation. According to
him in the past many of the decisions made concerning resources and
transportation were not optimal; today there is no room for irrational
expenditure of resources.

Sarkisian thinks that economically effective decisions should be
made, and that the construction of railways, pipelines and so on
for political rather than economic reasons will come to an end. The
statement is a reference to several projects in which the interests of
Armenia were ignored, which bypassed Armenia due to its occupation of
Azeri territory. Sarkisian’s position implies that Armenia is seeking
to break its isolation from regional projects.