Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

TBILISI: AiF: new hope for Abkhaz railway

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • TBILISI: AiF: new hope for Abkhaz railway

    The Messenger, Georgia
    July 15 2005

    PRESS SCAN

    AiF: new hope for Abkhaz railway

    The Russian newspaper Argumenti I Facti reports that Minster of
    Transport of the Russian Federation Igor Levitin has held negotiations
    in Georgia, where it was agreed that Georgia is ready "to open the sky"
    for Russian airplanes.

    According to the paper, the agreement means that Russian airlines
    will be able to carry out as many flights and routes as possible.

    Georgian airplanes will retain the right to deliver cargoes only to
    Moscow. It was also agreed at the negotiations that starting from
    August 1 Georgia will abolish quotas on the international automobile
    transport.

    "But the most important thing is that there is hope to restore the
    railway connection through Abkhazia. For Russia it means the access
    to Armenia and Iran. Only 1.5-2 years are necessary for the repair
    of the railway. Georgia always linked the restoration of the railway
    connection with the return of refugees to Abkhazia," the paper writes.

    However, Argumenti I Facti also states that the Georgian government
    is now concerned not about the return of the refugees but the ensuring
    of security of the 40-50,000 people who have already returned.

    The paper notes on a tangent that the Georgian and Russian sides could
    not agree on the sale of the main gas pipeline that supplies Armenia
    with the gas to Gazprom. "Georgians, according to the Americans'
    advise, rejected the promise they gave two year ago," the paper states.
Working...
X