Armenia Hails Progress in Transport Cooperation with Georgia

A report issued by the Armenian Foreign Ministry, which overviews the country’s foreign policy in 2004, reads that progress made in transport cooperation with Georgia is a main achievement of last year in the relations between the two countries, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The report underlines the special importance of the trilateral agreement between Armenia, Georgia and Russia over launching a rail ferry service between the Georgian port of Poti and Russian port of Kavkaz, which is scheduled to start in January, 2005. The route will replace the currently operating ferry service between Poti and the Ukrainian port of Ilichevsk.

Armenia expects to benefit a lot from this direct link with Russia. It is expected that the rail ferry service will reduce the price of transportation of cargo from Armenia to Russia by 30%. Armenia also used the Poti-Ilichevsk rail ferry service.