June 27, 2003 - 23:58 AMT
RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN EXPERT GROUP TO EXAMINE TRANSCAUCASIAN RAILWAY ABKHAZIAN SECTOR CONDITION
Russian-Georgian expert group will examine the condition of the Abkhazian sector of the Trascaucasian railway. This resolution was adopted at the yesterday sitting of the joint working group created within the framework of the Sochi agreements on the reconstruction of the through railway communication between Sochi and Tbilisi. As deputy to the Georgian minister of transport and communications Georgi Nizharadze told the "Black Sea Press" agency, in the course of the meeting to be held first in Tbilisi and then probably continued in Sukhumi in July, the adoption of the expert group working program is planned. At the same time Nizharadze emphasized that the Georgian party abides by its position regarding the simultaneousness of the processes of the railway reconstruction and return of the Georgian refugees to the Gali region. To note, earlier the Georgian minister deputy informed about his intention to demand from the Russian party the security guarantees for the Georgian experts' work in Abkhazia. Tbilisi considers the Russian peacemaking forces dislocated in the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict territory to be able to provide the security needed.