ARMENIA, RUSSIA ASSESS ECONOMIC COOPERATION

Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin said at a session in Yerevan on 13 October of the bilateral intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, of which he is co-chairman, that Moscow has not yet met its commitment to restart production at several enterprises Armenia ceded to Russia two years ago in payment of its debts, Noyan Tapan reported.

Levitin said it has not yet been decided whether those enterprises will be restructured for military purposes. Levitin also told journalists in Yerevan on 13 October that Russia and Georgia are close to signing a formal agreement on the resumption of rail traffic from Sochi to Tbilisi via Abkhazia, a move that would facilitate Armenian imports and exports. Armenian commission co-chairman Serzh Sarkisian said Russia is prepared to cover most of the cost of repairs to that rail line, which has not been used for 13 years.