Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli and Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin, who chair the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation, signed a final protocol on December 16, which envisages setting up a joint consortium on restoration of the Russian-Georgian railway via breakaway Abkhazia.
The decision over setting up a consortium was made at the session of the Russian-Georgian intergovernmental commission in Tbilisi, where the sides expressed readiness to resume the railway link.
Deputy Economy Minister Natia Turnava told reporters that initially the sides will develop a mechanism for setting up a joint consortium, and only afterwards a particular technical project on resumption of the railway will be prepared. However, the exact dates of setting up the consortium are not defined in the protocol.