CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VIII (2) ContEurVIII2 | Page 34

MANE BABAJANYAN
Elibekyan a more sensible solution is the realization of the 2011
Agreement on Customs Monitoring of Cargoes that implies the
construction of two new roads that will pass through Abkhazia and South
Ossetia, respectively. 66 The reopening of the Abkhaz railway that
connected Abkhazia to Russia in Soviet times but stopped operation in
1993 is also seen as an alternative. Through the Abkhaz railway,
Armenian transport network will assuredly improve by the reduced cost
of trade. Moreover, it will contribute to developing tourism in Armenia
and ending its regional isolation. 67 From an economic perspective, the
opening of railway traffic with Russia through Abkhazia would reduce
the cost of transport by 15-20%, as there would no longer be a need for
ferry transportation. Moreover, the traffic would be accelerated by more
than a week that, in turn, would reduce the cost of imported and exported
commodities due to the cut in invested working capital. 68
The significance of Georgia for Armenia is also emphasized by the
fact that the latter is a landlocked country with no sea access. According
to the 1965 New York Convention adopted by the United Nations
Conference on Transit Trade of Landlocked Countries that began to be
enforced in 1967, all landlocked states should have free access to the sea
as much as coastal states. The Convention consists of eight main
principles that define the rights and obligations of landlocked countries. It
recognizes the equal rights of those countries of transit trade while
entering ports and shipping cargo. In these cases, the landlocked states
are exempted from customs. Armenia joined the 1965 convention in
2013. 69 The Georgian ports Batumi and Poti provide access to the sea for
a significant share of the shipments coming to and from Armenia. The
Georgian government levies 30% transit custom duties for using its

mutual-transit-in-the-context-of-trade-economic-and-political-cooperation-of-two-
countries/.
66 Elibekyan, “Upper Lars”
67 Mikhelidze, “After the 2008 Russia-Georgia War, 27-42.
68 Natalia Mirimanova, et al., Rehabilitation of the Railways in the South Caucasus:
Assessment of the potential Economic Benefits: Sochi-Sukhum/i-Tbilisi-Yerevan railway,
International Alert (2013), 31, https://www.international-alert.org/sites/default/files/
Caucasus_RailwaysRehabilitationPt1_EN_2013.pdf.
69 Chapter X: International Trade and Development, 3. Convention on transit trade of
land-locked states, UN Treaty Collection, Last updated: Dec 12, 2019,
https://treaties.un.org/Pages/PageNotFound.aspx.
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