Forecast: the rehabilitation of Abkhazian railway transit will  essentially mitigate Turkish-Azerbaijani blockade of Armenia

ArmInfo.It is  interesting, that Russia and  Georgia started to deal with settlement of  trade-industrial and transportation relations regardless political  settlement of Abkhazia and Southern Ossetia statuses, as well as  independent of Russian militaries presence at  the territories of  these countries, Arman  Melikyan, the Ex Foreign Minister of Nagorno  Karabakh  expressed his opinion

On  February 8  Grigori Karasin, Russian Foreign Minister stated that  there  is one last and the  most difficult step is left to make to  open the new transit corridor through Georgia, accentuating that not  only Russia and Georgia are interested in 2011 Agreements  implementation, but Armenia as well. 

"Finding of mutually acceptable solutions, of course, will be  profitable for  all the stakeholders, because it will mitigate the  level of common  military-political  tension between Russia,  Abkhazia, Souther Ossetia on one hand and Georgia on the other," he  mentioned.  

The expert thinks also, that the implementation of this scenario will  give a pulse to the economic life rehabilitation throughout the  Caucasus region, and sooner or later, will be able to pass a puls to  transit cargo flows from Russia to Iran through Georgia and Armenia. 

The  Agreement between Russian Federation and Georgia on main   principles of customs administration and trade monitoring dated   November 9, 2011 mentions the transit through territories of Abkhazia   and South Ossetia within the participation of foreign mediators, who   will control the cargo flows.  The Prague meeting of Karasin and   Georgian prime Minister's  Special Representative finished with a   decision to rehabilitate the Agreement On Trade Corridors of 2011.    Particularly, Karasin stated to Commersant weekly, that there is an   essential progress in the practical  aspect.  According to him,   parties decided to discuss those issues which could be solved without   crossing  the "red lines"  - Abkhazia and South Ossetia statuses, as   well as Russian troops presence there.  

According to Karasin, Parties discussed to discuss ontly those  questions possible to solve avoiding  "red lines" - Abkhazia and  Souther Ossetia statuses. This approach will allow parties to avoid  the painful issue of  customs  registration of cargo at the border,  as well as to launch  vehicle road through Southern Ossetia, which is  extremely important  for Armenia, because the road  leading to Upper   Lars is being often  closed due to weather conditions.