Gagil Agadzhanyan, the head of the “Apaven” transport company, told VK why it’s so important for Armenia to develop a transport strategy.
- A lot of people believe that tariffs in Georgia are extremely high and that Georgia simply uses Armenia. Do you agree with that?
- I most certainly don’t! We pay $200-250 per ton in the Georgian port of Poti, while in the Long Beach port we would not pay less than $500 and in Rotterdam 300 euros. Obviously Georgian service is not expensive. It’s cheaper than Russian!
- Southern Railways, a subsidiary company of Russian Railways, claimed that tariffs will remain at the current level, even though all over the world they are rising. What do you think about that?
- I believe it’s a great step forward that Russian Railways have bought Armenian Railways. Now transportation takes less time and service has improved.
- Experts say that the Georgian-Iranian border has been equipped so well that now it takes less time to cross the border even for traders. Is this true? Is the same process taking place in Armenia?
- It’s true. I cross the border very often and I admit that Georgian customs officers are working very well. However, we still have a lot of problems. We should continue the improvement of our customs services.
- Armenia is almost in a blockade. What is to be done to solve the problem of transportation?
- It's true that we have too many problems. What we need is a government transport development strategy. Armenia has to have a unique transport system. That’s the only way out of the situation.
Interview by David Stepanyan, Yerevan. Exclusively to VK
