Kazakhstan not in talks to acquire Russian rail concession in Armenia 

ArmInfo.The Kazakh side is not in talks to acquire  Russia's concession to operate Armenian railways, as  reported to Interfax-Kazakhstan by Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ) and the Kazakh Ministry of Transport.

Earlier, Nikol Pashinyan stated that Armenia theoretically has no  objection to transferring management of the South Caucasus Railway  (SCR) to a Kazakh company if it is acceptable to the Russian side. He  also emphasized that at this point, it is only an idea and that no  substantive discussions on this issue are underway.

"It's hard to call this a discussion. We are in talks with our  Russian partners, as they have not  expressed their consent yet,"  Pashinyan noted. According to him, the issue is not open-ended.  Yerevan hopes to find partnering solutions. Pashinyan also did not  rule out transferring control of the South Caucasus Railway to the  UAE or Qatar.

Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk reported  that the Russian side learned about the possible transfer of   Russia's  concession for Armenian railways from colleagues in other  countries; no one had discussed it directly with Moscow. He said this  is a very interesting story, as currently no one is discussing the  transfer of the concession with the Russian Federation. "At least, no  one has done so until today. And we have learnt about this from our  colleagues in other countries. People from the United Arab Emirates  are contacting us, people in Kazakhstan are also talking about it,  but no one has directly approached us about our concession. This is  very interesting," Overchuk stated. He added that the possible sale  of the concession for Armenian railways could lead to the loss of  Russian cargo and cooperation with Russian Railways, and warned of  the associated risks. Regarding the possible transfer of the  concession, he noted that only Armenia could make the decision.  However, he added that all of Russia's neighbors, including EU  countries, are interested in using Russian railways, while Yerevan is  questioning continued cooperation. Overchuk reported that Moscow has  warned "friendly countries" to whom Armenia had offered to purchase  the concession about the potential risks. He added that, given the  factors affecting logistics in the region, a significant portion of  freight traffic from Central Asian countries to Armenia and Turkey  and back will pass through Russia. "We simply need to have the  foresight predict how events will develop, especially when it comes  to long-term investments such as port infrastructure and railways,"  he noted.

Recall, the South Caucasus Railways CJSC is a wholly owned subsidiary  of Russian Railways OJSC. On February 13, 2008, a concession  agreement was signed in Yerevan between Russian Railways and the  Republic of Armenia transferring the country's rail transport system  to the management of South Caucasus Railways. According to the  agreement, the concession management term is 30 years, with the right  to extend it for an additional 10 years after the first 20 years of  operation by mutual agreement.