Caucasian Press Review ( August 24-30)

"Abkhazia is in a difficult situation characterized by new challenges and threats, for which the country must be ready," the Sputnik-Abkhazia news portal leads the words of President Raul Khajimba, spoken at a meeting of the FNUA party in Sukhumi. "We are witnessing complex processes in world politics and economics, at the center of which is our ally and strategic partner, Russia. Abkhazia is connected with Russia by hundreds of economic, political, military, cultural and inextricable human strands. Therefore, we cannot but be affected by the unfolding events," the head of state said. 

He noted that, despite its limited financial resources, the republic has reserves, particularly in the tourism sector. Khajimba cited the resort of Pitsunida, which managed to return a debt of 26 million rubles to the state. Last year the total number of people who visited the relic Ritsinsky National Park was about 120 thousand, this year this figure, excluding August, has already exceeded 370,000 people. There is an increased number of visitors to the New Athos cave.

"Not everything is smooth, not everything is as you want, but there is a process," the president said. He acknowledged that, despite many years of financial support from Russia, Abkhazia has not built a real economy, and the country's food security is not secured firmly. In previous years the country has been receiving Russian aid, which was not used productively. 
"Russia has been and will be with us, but we must understand that it now has a lot of its own problems. There is a fierce struggle for the preservation of the Russian state in the international arena, all this is happening against the backdrop of harsh international sanctions, attempts to isolate Russia and lowering oil prices, Khajimba emphasized. 
‘’Russia requires the mobilization of all its resources, and therefore there is a reduction of budgetary and other costs." 

According to the President, in the current environment due to the devaluation of the ruble, the fulfillment of social obligations under the agreement ‘On alliance and strategic partnership’ and the realization of the investment program will not provide the necessary possibilities for a breakthrough in the Abkhazian economy. The Republic must use all available reserves to preserve the state during the economic crisis. "We were able to increase revenue by improving fiscal discipline. But this is very little to address the pressing problems of the state. There is a task set before the financial and economic unit to increase the budget to 5-6 billion rubles. We will have to apply unpopular measures to achieve it. We all need to tighten our straps," Khajimba said. 
He demanded that a lot of budget items, such as the purchase of tools, equipment and vehicles, be reduced to a minimum. The material resources that will be presented to Abkhazia should be aimed at the development of the agricultural, tourism and energy sectors.

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Lifting sanctions from Iran will help Azerbaijani-Iranian cooperation on the development of the infrastructure projects network, the Azerbaijan News newspaper reports. A key trend in the development of the telecommunications market in the country, the newspaper writes, is the involvement in international projects for laying lines for internet connection. Neighboring Iran has recently become interested in joint projects with Azerbaijan in the field of network infrastructure. In particular, the Islamic Republic is ready to participate in the formation of the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM), and is proceeding to the second phase of the Europe-Persia Express Gateway project (EPEG).

The TASIM project, comprising and combining more than 20 countries in Europe and Asia, a high-speed information network, originating in Frankfurt and running to Hong Kong, was initiated by the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies (INTERFET) about seven years ago. An important milestone in the development of the project was the signing of the Baku memorandum of understanding on the TASIM project in 2013. The document became the starting point for the creation of a consortium, it outlined the contours of the future of the project.

Over the past years the implementation of this initiative involved the Russian ‘Rostelecom’, the Kazakhstani ‘KazTransCom’, the Turkish TurkTelecom, and the Chinese and the Azerbaijani ‘ChinaTelecom’ and ‘AzInTelekom’. In the first already completed phase the leading countries of the region and operators were engaged in involving communications companies willing to invest in the main transit internet infrastructure connecting East and West. In the second stage, use of the created infrastructure is estimated on the basis of a UN mandate to provide Internet connection at a reasonable price for the Eurasian countries that do not have direct access to the international Internet sites. The next step will be the construction of new segments of the fiber-optic infrastructure with high capacity. Thus, it is expected that Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan will sign a contract soon for the construction of the Caspian segment of the underwater TASIM. Laying of a cable connection between the Azerbaijani town of Siyazan and the Kazakh port of Aktau is tentatively scheduled for 2016.

It is expected that in December this year, in the framework of the next International Telecommunications Exhibition BakuTel-2015, a key document will be signed with the designation of the final versions of a draft of the TASIM project. It is possible that operators will sign a separate agreement for the construction and operation of the TASIM project with refined technical parameters, particularly the distribution volume of the traffic pumping between the states and regions responsible for the specific sections of the line, the definition of equity countries, the proposals for broadband services, and the designation of a specific business-model project.

Neighboring Iran, not being a formal member of the project, has expressed its interest in participation in the TASIM. "Iran is ready to cooperate in the implementation of the TASIM project, and this issue is currently being discussed with the Azerbaijani INTERFET leadership. The international environment prevailing today is optimal for joint efforts for the integration of the region's channels and communication systems," the Minister of the Communications and Information Technology of Iran, Mahmoud Vaezi, told the Azerbaijani Trend news agency.

In turn, in the conditions of international sanctions easing, Iran is preparing to launch the second phase of the large-scale EPEG international project. Originating in Frankfurt and following through Eastern Europe, Russia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Oman, the fiber-optic backbone has an initial capacity of 540 gigabits per second. Its total length reaches 10 thousand km and has a designed capacity up to 3.2 Tbit/s. The volume of the EPEG traffic supplied to Azerbaijan today is 50 Gbit/s. ‘’The work on the project is going at a good pace, in the near future we will launch the second phase of the EPEG project after determining the tariffs for traffic transit," Vaezi said.

The second phase of the project involves the connection of the EPEG cable line to the underwater segments of another international highway, the Europe-India Gateway (EIG). This project is promoted by the British operator ‘Cable & Wireless Worldwide’, as well as the two US companies AT & T and Verizon, which until recently could not invest in the development of the EPEG project because of the economic sanctions against Iran.

Thus, the newspaper concludes, the lifting of sanctions will give an impetus to the regional projects of the fiber-optic infrastructure. Azerbaijan, of course, is interested in this, turning into the key Internet-hub of the Caspian region and expecting to increase profits at the expense of the additional volume of traffic transit.

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The Buznasa Nuh, which in Avar means ‘road of ancestors’, will run from the confluence of two rivers, the Avar and the Andi Koisu in the Untsukul district of Dagastan to the village of Chirkey along the coast of the Chirkey reservoir, the Dagestani Truth newspaper informs.

The road builders are sure that 90% of car drivers will prefer Buznasa Nuh to the existing road through the Gumry tunnel as more convenient and safe. Its main distinction and comfort is that Buznasa Nuh is at an altitude of only 350 meters above sea level, while the tunnel is at a height of 950 meters. "Drivers will not have to climb up and down the mountain or wind through the challenging serpentines. In addition, a new road has been built on the south side, and it almost does not get any ice or snow in the winter. If it is snowing in the mountains, rain is falling here. And finally, the tunnel may be closed, for example, for repairs, but our road will be open all year," the head of the construction, Magamedkamil Dibirov explains. He cites a high idea in addition to the practical meaning of this road: "People leave the mountains forgetting their villages. We want to help them to return to their small motherland, make their lives easier with the construction of convenient roads.’’

This important transport artery with a length of 37 km and a width of 15 meters will connect 14 mountains. The Road of Ancestors is promising from the tourism point of view according to its scenic landscapes. There are commercial facilities, service stations, camping by the River Sulak,’’ the road constructors describe the prospects.

Construction of the road began more than six months ago. The work involves 12 people and 7 technical units. 15.6 km are padded, taking into account access roads. According to Dibirov, they have not got large investors. The project, which will cost 560 million rubles, is designed as a people’s building, they are collecting strings from the world. Residents of the mountain villages like the idea of the new road, and they take an active participation in the building, the technology is provided with their financial help. The local imams of mosques tell the parishioners about the road and ask them to give all possible assistance in its construction. A local bridge building brigade has promised to build a bridge at the site where the Avar and Andean Coys merge. The workers of the Botlikh cannery supply the builders with their products. It is planned for the road to be completed next year.

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The possibility of selling Lake Sevan’s water abroad is an issue of growing concern from the Armenian ecologists, the local newspaper ‘New Era’ reports. The alarm is generated by the statement of an Iranian MP, Ali Alil, who said that Tehran intends to reverse the drying of Lake Urmia by diverting water from Georgia and Armenia. According to the deputy, at the same time an agreement was reached on corresponding water pumping to Urmia.

A coordinator of the Armenian Environmental Public Union, Silva Adamyan, reported that sources in Iran have confirmed this information. "The problem really exists, but it is preferred not to discuss it due to the fear of social unrest," the expert believes. According to Adamyan, the union formally requested Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan twice, but these letters remained unanswered. Adamyan thinks that this gives serious cause for concern. In turn, the chairwoman of the Ecolur organization, Inga Zarafyan, stressed that if an agreement regarding the sale of the waters of Lake Sevan abroad will be taken without a public discussion, it is illegitimate, because the lake is protected by a special law.

As stated in the article, the biggest Iranian lake, Urmia, indeed remains on the brink of extinction. The volume of water has reduced for various reasons by 70% over the last 20 years. The ecosystem of this water tank is completely broken, more than two hundred species of water birds, most of which are listed as endangered, are threatened with extinction. It is necessary to take immediate action to save Urmia, but not using Lake Sevan's resources, the Armenian ecologists think.

Meanwhile, the author points out, arguments have revived in Armenia about the need to use Sevan for economic purposes. The more so as the cost of clean drinking water is constantly growing in the world and the question of delivery can be solved easily, because the water from the mountainous Lake Sevan can reach nearly any buyer by gravity in the vast region. In addition, according to the information available to the environmentalists, there are signs of shale oil and gas in the basin of the reservoir. The Ministry of Environmental Protection has issued a positive decision on the beginning of its exploration in the vicinity of the lakeside villages of Ayrivank, Tsaghkashen and Noradus. This gives them one more reason to think that in this country, due to the socio-economic situation, the data of the possible sale of Sevan’s water may be true, and it is possible that there are plans to lower the level of the lake through exporting water in order to facilitate the exploration of hydrocarbon deposits. No doubt, the magazine writes, in this case the pond will be completely destroyed without any hope of recovery in the future. Accordingly, the entire ecosystem of Armenia and even a number of its adjacent areas will be on the verge of destruction. The author notes that this topic may cause a lot of trouble to the authorities, particularly against the background of falling levels of public confidence. Their silence can only aggravate suspicions and convince the public that behind their backs the authorities are preparing some really dangerous deal that will cause an active protest, the consequences of which could be on a large scale.