HISTORIC BRIDGE OPENS IN TROUBLED CAUCASUS
Press Release
WFP/1021
HISTORIC BRIDGE OPENS IN TROUBLED CAUCASUS
19951201 ROME, 1 December (WFP) -- In a symbol of unusual regional cooperation in the war-torn Caucasus, a railway bridge built with aid from the World Food Programme (WFP) opened Friday to carry food and fuel to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The $400,000 Natanebi bridge,located 38 kilometres from the Georgian port of Batumi on the Black Sea, replaces a span that was wrecked in a train derailment in early 1994.Since fighting in Chechnya cut off rail and sea shipments from other parts of the former Soviet Union, two ports on the Black Sea are the only means of shipping food supplies to the three countries, When the Natanebi bridge was closed, the tracks were shifted to a century-old road bridge, a potential bottleneck.
Despite nearly eight years of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorny Karabakh, the two countries have joined with Georgia in helping to finance the construction of the new bridge. While WFP is providing $250,000 from a United States donation to help pay for the construction, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia each provided $50,000 in cash or materials to complete the financing. The German Government also made available a bridge engineer to help with the construction.
In addition to providing emergency food aid to Georgia, WFP has established the Caucasus Logistics Advisory Unit, which oversees a $14.2 million project designed to improve the region's fragile transportation infrastructure. The rail systems of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have sent representatives to WFP's Tbilisi-based Rail Operations Center, which insures the free flow of rail traffic between the three countries.
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