Washington - U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today hailed the inclusion of his amendment in the Export-Import Bank Reauthorization Bill which would prohibit Americas involvement in a proposed Caucasus railroad deliberately excluding Armenia. The proposed railway, linking Kars, Tbisili and Baku, would explicitly bypass land-locked Armenia at the insistence of the governments of Azerbaijan and Turkey, whose national policies include an economic blockage against Armenia. The Menendez measure, with minor changes, was included in the bill passed by the Senate Banking Committee which will be referred to the full Senate for consideration.
We cannot continue to stoke the embers of regional conflict by supporting projects that deliberately exclude one of the regions most important members, said Menendez. Fundamentally, this amendment is about fairness and about inclusion, rather than exclusion. With this amendment, we are sending a simple message -- that we believe that the United States should support an integrated and inclusive approach to economic and regional development in the Caucuses region.
In 2005, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia finished construction on an oil pipeline that did not pass through Armenia, even though doing so would have been the fastest and most economically sound route. Current United States policy is to promote integration and regional stability in the Caucuses region, and the amendment will ensure that U.S. taxpayers will not fund programs which run counter to this policy.
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