By empty (3/21/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The reestablishment of a railroad connection between Yerevan and Moscow has been discussed at today\'s meeting of a delegation of the Armenian National Assembly with representatives of the Russian Federation Council. Armenian parliamentarians have urged the Federation Council to use every possibility to reestablish the Transcaucasian railroad and welcomed the reestablishment of a railroad connection between Sochi and Sukhumi. Oganes Oganyan, the head of the Federation Council Economic Policy Committee, said that, according to experts, the reestablishment of a railroad connection with Armenia would increase the Armenian GDP by 40 percent, at least.
The reestablishment of a railroad connection between Yerevan and Moscow has been discussed at today\'s meeting of a delegation of the Armenian National Assembly with representatives of the Russian Federation Council. Armenian parliamentarians have urged the Federation Council to use every possibility to reestablish the Transcaucasian railroad and welcomed the reestablishment of a railroad connection between Sochi and Sukhumi. Oganes Oganyan, the head of the Federation Council Economic Policy Committee, said that, according to experts, the reestablishment of a railroad connection with Armenia would increase the Armenian GDP by 40 percent, at least. He stressed that \"the pace of the Armenian economic growth (12.9 percent) was impressive and Russia is interested in the mechanisms that have promoted this jump\". Oganyan stressed that Armenia was one of the few countries that had settled the problem of debts to Russia. In his turn, Viktor Ozerov, the head of the Federation Council Security and Defense Committee, noted that the reestablishment of the Transcaucasian railroad in Georgia depended on the normalization of Russian-Georgian relations that \"are rather tense at present\". \"Armenia, unfortunately, is Russia\'s the only strategic partner in the Caucasus, and Russia is interested in the development of economic ties with this country\", the senator added. (RBS)