ARMENIA EXCLUDED FROM THE "ABKHAZIAN PROJECT"?
The role of Armenia in opening the Abkhazian railway is still uncertain.
The co-chairman of Armenian-Russian intergovernmental commission, Minister of Transport of Russia Igor Levitin went to Krasnodar region for discussing issues concerning the opening of the railway through Abkhazia and ferry communication between Caucasus and Poti ports. If the ferry communication with Southern Caucasus and Russia is already a reality and there is a need to simply work out its mechanism for optimal functioning, the problem of opening the Abkhazian segment of the railway will be solved in the nearest future.
Levitin's trip to Krasnodar region was preceded by a conference participated by the Russian members of the trilateral working group dealing with the opening of Abkhazian railway. The Russian co-chairman of the working group, the head of Federal Agency of Railway Transport Michael Akoulov has recently stated that railway communication between Russia and Southern Caucasus will be established by the end of 2005. Akoulov says that political problems are already solved and there are only economical problems left. Maybe his forecast was too optimistic, but in any case there is an obvious progress in solving the problem. If till recently Tbilisi artificially hampered the negotiations on opening the Abkhazian railway, now under the influence of pragmatic leaders of the economic block of Georgian government, (Aleksishvili, Bendukidze) the political leadership of the country seems to be ready to review its position. Independent Georgian experts have calculated that Georgia annually loses around 500 million dollars because of the absence of direct communication with Russia. The same can be said about Armenia.
Currently, within the frames of the working group there are established contacts between Moscow and Tbilisi. The Georgian party has promised to provide a report on the technical condition of their segment within the next few days. Georgian experts think that no less than 40 million dollars will be needed for the recovery of infrastructure in the 190 km segment from the state border of Russia till Samtredia. Russian experts suppose that the work can be done with less expenses.
The status of Abkhazian segment and the forms of its exploitation is still not fixed. This issue will be the main one in the upcoming Russian-Georgian consultations. But there is some contradictious information from Moscow, which allows to suppose that the Russian party refuses from the previously reached agreements. Not long ago Abkhazian President Sergey Bagabsh was in Moscow. On his arrival back to Sukhumi he stated that Russian officials have informed him that two statuses of the railway are currently considered. The first is about creating a joint Georgian-Russian company and the second one supposes renting by Russia of the Psou - Samtredia segment. It should be noted that the first variant contradicts to the decision made in winter in Tbilisi during the quadripartite conference participated by the Ministers of Transport of Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. During that conference it was decided to establish a quadripartite consortium that would deal with the exploitation of the railway. Soon after that Azerbaijan refused to take part in that project. Thus there were three co-founders left - Moscow, Tbilisi and Yerevan. Now, according to Bagabsh, Yerevan occurs out of the game. The reasons for that are not clear because unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia did not refuse to bear responsibility for implementing the project.
As for the possibility of renting the railway, that variant seems quite interesting if we take into account the fact that Moscow considers a similar scheme in the case with opening the Kars - Gyumri railway. It is worth reminding that the Minister of Transport of Russia Igor Levitin has recently stated that negotiations with Ankara on the possibility of renting the non-operating segment are under way. If the information about the intention of Moscow is true, it becomes quite clear that Russians try to find a complex solution for the problem, creating a vertical transport corridor through Armenia. Possibly, the use of this scheme will have a positive impact on the functioning of through communication thanks to which Armenia will finally become a transit country.
Artem Yerkanyan
Currently, within the frames of the working group there are established contacts between Moscow and Tbilisi. The Georgian party has promised to provide a report on the technical condition of their segment within the next few days. Georgian experts think that no less than 40 million dollars will be needed for the recovery of infrastructure in the 190 km segment from the state border of Russia till Samtredia. Russian experts suppose that the work can be done with less expenses.
The status of Abkhazian segment and the forms of its exploitation is still not fixed. This issue will be the main one in the upcoming Russian-Georgian consultations. But there is some contradictious information from Moscow, which allows to suppose that the Russian party refuses from the previously reached agreements. Not long ago Abkhazian President Sergey Bagabsh was in Moscow. On his arrival back to Sukhumi he stated that Russian officials have informed him that two statuses of the railway are currently considered. The first is about creating a joint Georgian-Russian company and the second one supposes renting by Russia of the Psou - Samtredia segment. It should be noted that the first variant contradicts to the decision made in winter in Tbilisi during the quadripartite conference participated by the Ministers of Transport of Russia, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. During that conference it was decided to establish a quadripartite consortium that would deal with the exploitation of the railway. Soon after that Azerbaijan refused to take part in that project. Thus there were three co-founders left - Moscow, Tbilisi and Yerevan. Now, according to Bagabsh, Yerevan occurs out of the game. The reasons for that are not clear because unlike Azerbaijan, Armenia did not refuse to bear responsibility for implementing the project.
As for the possibility of renting the railway, that variant seems quite interesting if we take into account the fact that Moscow considers a similar scheme in the case with opening the Kars - Gyumri railway. It is worth reminding that the Minister of Transport of Russia Igor Levitin has recently stated that negotiations with Ankara on the possibility of renting the non-operating segment are under way. If the information about the intention of Moscow is true, it becomes quite clear that Russians try to find a complex solution for the problem, creating a vertical transport corridor through Armenia. Possibly, the use of this scheme will have a positive impact on the functioning of through communication thanks to which Armenia will finally become a transit country.
Artem Yerkanyan
