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Russia Proposes South Caucasus Joint Venture to Restore Railway

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  • Russia Proposes South Caucasus Joint Venture to Restore Railway

    Civil Georgia, Georgia
    Nov. 4, 2004

    Russia Proposes South Caucasus Joint Venture to Restore Railway

    Russia proposed the setting up of a joint railway venture with the
    South Caucasus states in order to unite efforts in restoring a railway
    connection in the region.

    `The development of transport links will speed up the settlement of
    political problems. The Presidents of the South Caucasus countries
    think that the restoration of the railway will encourage the resumption
    of talks [over conflict resolution], which were suspended long ago,'
    the press office of the Russian Transport Ministry quotes Transport
    Minister Igor Levitin as saying.

    Levitin visited Tbilisi on November 1 and held talks over the rail link
    via Abkhazia with the Georgian leadership.

    At a news briefing in Moscow on November 3, the Russian Transport
    Minister said that he has offered a proposal to set up a joint
    Russian-Georgian-Armenian-Azerbaijani company, which will restore
    traffic on the Trans-Caucasus Railway that ceased functioning after the
    conflicts in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 90s.

    Meanwhile, the chief of the state-run Russian Railway Company Genadi
    Fadeev, who visited Armenian on November 3, signed an agreement with
    his Armenian counterpart over the setting up of a joint venture in an
    attempt to unite efforts to restore the railway communication in the
    region, RFE/RL reported.

    "The countries' presidents, transportation authorities and business
    representatives have expressed support for this project, which will
    revitalize transport links between our countries," the Russian
    English-language daily Moscow Times quoted Igor Levitin as saying at a
    news briefing on November 3.

    The railway, which stretched more than 2,300 kilometers during Soviet
    times, connected Black Sea ports with central Russia, operated
    passenger services and handled more than 15 million tons of transit
    cargo per year, according to the Moscow Times.

    Levitin also said that he has reached an agreement with the Georgian
    authorities over setting up a joint group which will work over the
    issue of restoring the railway via Abkhazia.
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