Poti Operator Has Not Provided Clear Timeline Until Recently: Kerobyan on the Issue

The ferry connection, which was supposed to alleviate the queue problem at the Lars checkpoint, has not yet been operational, as the operator at the Port of Poti is closely following both European and American sanctions. Until now, no commitment has been made regarding the timeline for responding to the decision to allow or disallow a specific cargo, stated Vahan Kerobyan, the Minister of Economy of Armenia, in the National Assembly.

“The main issue preventing us from starting is that we want this connection to be as stable and predictable as possible so that the funds spent from the state budget yield their proper economic results,” said Kerobyan. He noted that not a single dram has been spent on subsidizing the ferry connection to date.

Regarding the issue that has prevented the start of the ferry service until now, the minister explained: “Since the operator at the Port of Poti is a Dutch company and they strictly monitor both European and American sanctions, they essentially have not assumed any obligations to us regarding the timeline for responding to decisions regarding the release or non-release of specific cargo. They must check each cargo for compliance or non-compliance with sanctions and decide accordingly whether to allow it or not. The Poti operator has not provided us with a clear timeline until recently.”

The minister hopes that they will manage to launch this service before the onset of bad weather. “The problem has turned out to be more complex than the government initially envisioned. We will do everything to ensure that it happens, as it is a very important link between Armenia and the Eurasian continent,” emphasized Kerobyan.