Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said, after talks with visiting Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin on January 10, that a number of conditions should be met before restoring the railway connection between Russia and Georgia via breakaway Abkhazia.
?Restoration of the railway link is related to a number of conditions. On the other hand situation in Abkhazia is still quite unclear. Restoration of the railway was not the top issue discussed today,? Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania said; however he did not specify any of these conditions.
Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin told reporters that experts from Russia are currently assessing those needs, including financial ones, which will be necessary for restoring the railway link from Sokhumi, capital of breakaway Abkhazia, to the administrative border with Georgia.
Last November, the Russian Transport Minister, who visited Georgia and Armenia, proposed that the countries of the South Caucasus set up a joint Russian-Georgian-Armenian-Azerbaijani company which would restore traffic on the Trans-Caucasus Railway, which ceased functioning after conflicts in Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 90s.