Page 48 - GEORptOct19

China’s huge Belt and Road Initiative for modern transport infrastructure that drives trade.
TITR covers 3,500 kilometres, connecting Dostyk, Kazakhstan in the east with Baku, Azerbaijan in the west. Its main section is a railway and shipping segment, part of which involves crossing the Caspian Sea by ferry.
In an earlier interview with Xinhua, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said”We are investing largely in infrastructure to build roads, highways, airports. The construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad that connects Asia and Europe is the shortest transportation route to bring goods from China to Europe and vice versa."
Kars is a terminal in Turkey.
On July 6, a China Railway Express (CRE) Chang'an Block Train arrived in Baku after a 17-day journey from Xi'an City in western China. It carried machinery equipment and electronic appliances. And its journey marked the opening of the China Railway Express' railway-ferry multimode stretch to Baku.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a ​Kommersant​ interview on September 25 that he supports the resumption of direct flights from Russia to Georgia.​ They were suspended in July in a diplomatic row between the two countries over anti-Moscow demonstrations and anti-Kremlin remarks made by a TV presenter.
“It seems to me that it would be right [to restore the flights] since the majority of the Georgian population have realised the counterproductive and provocative nature of the trick that took place in the Georgian parliament,” Lavrov said, according​ R​ euters​, ​referring to how the protests were sparked after word spread of a visiting Russian MP being invited to take the speaker’s chair in the parliament in Tbilisi.
The ban on passenger flights from Russia to Georgia triggered a wave of support on social media and in public media in favour of Georgia as a tourism destination. Russians intent on holidaying in the country or on visiting friends and relatives living there had to resort to road travel.
Losses to airlines resulting from the ban on direct flights between Russia and Georgia is estimated at RUB3bn ($47mn), Russian Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh said on July 7, Tass reported.
The ban was introduced after​ ​mass protests outside the Georgian parliament​, triggered by reports that a Russian lawmaker was giving a speech from the speaker’s chair inside the legislature. At an emergency session of the Russian Security Council, Putin announced a temporary ban on flights to and from Georgia starting July 8, “to protect Russian citizens from violence or other illegal actions.”
9.1.4 ​Tourism sector news
Georgia’s tourism revenue declined by 10% y/y in August, Georgia Today has reported ​citing​ a press release from the central bank.​ The monetary authority does not usually issue a balance of payment breakdown on a monthly basis, but the country’s tourism sector has been in the spotlight since Russia in late June introduced some soft restrictions deterring Russians from holidaying in the country amid diplomatic tensions over anti-Moscow protests. The revenue decline confirmed the downward trend experienced since a Russian embargo on direct flights to Georgia took effect. Russia did not, however, go so far as forbidding Russians from visiting Georgia.
Impacts from the Russian action were felt partly because tourists coming from Russia by car usually spend less during their stay than travellers flying in,
48​ GEORGIA Country Report​ October 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com