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President Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, Igor Yevgenyevich. I am ready to listen.

Transport Minister Igor Levitin: The Russian-Georgian Intergovernmental Commission has just met. It last met in 2002. Furthermore, a Russian-Georgian business forum took place today. The Intergovernmental Commission reached agreements on matters that we had prepared in advance for discussion. The main outcome is that Georgia has agreed to open railway through traffic on the Sochi-Tbilisi route. The Georgian President confirmed at the meeting that Georgia intends to work together with Russia and other countries to rebuild this railway route.

Vladimir Putin: How has this agreement been drawn up?

Igor Levitin: It has already been drawn up and the Georgian Prime Minister has signed the protocol.

Vladimir Putin: Essentially, this amounts to the implementation of the Sochi agreements we concluded back with President Shevardnadze, only at that time we agreed that this work would be synchronised with normalisation of the situation with refugees and electricity supply problems in the Galsky District. I will give the Security Council a separate instruction to work together with its Georgian colleagues to continue monitoring this situation, and you of course, should continue working on your side. This is a very good project and it will benefit both the Georgian and Russian economies and will be good in general for the region’s economic development.

Igor Levitin: For the Trans-Caucasus.

Vladimir Putin: Yes.

Igor Levitin: Representatives of Georgian Railways joined us in Tbilisi and, on a proposal from Russian Railways the decision was taken to form an international consortium to raise investment for the construction of the railway route and its subsequent operation. We also decided that we now need to set up a working group bringing together the relevant ministries in Russia and Georgia so as to settle customs and border issues to ensure the route will be able to operate smoothly.

Vladimir Putin: Did you discuss cooperation between ports?

Igor Levitin: Yes, we did discuss this matter and we came to the following agreements. We want to resume shipping routes between Russian ports in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov basins and the Georgian ports of Poti and Batumi. We already have a rail ferry operating this route and soon we will be ready to open a road freight route between Novorossiisk and Poti. This way, we will have direct ferry, rail and road links with Georgia and thus also with Armenia and Azerbaijan. We will in this way be able to build up once more the freight traffic flows in this region that we had lost.

Vladimir Putin: Since we’re talking about marine matters, I know that you also discussed the issue of a shipping register.

Igor Levitin: Yes, this was on your instructions, and the government has prepared a decision regarding making changes to the international shipping register. The corresponding draft law has already gone through the Federation Council, and on behalf of the marine community, I would like to ask you to approve these changes. This will be good news because today, unfortunately, we have some 80,000 seamen sailing under a foreign flag. Furthermore, they have no legal protection, as we saw in the case of our seamen in Nigeria.

I want to say that without having to use budget money, we can bring around 700 ships back under the Russian flag and thus transport 180 million tons of freight. The freight costs come to around $2.5 billion. At the moment, unfortunately, we transport only around five percent of the six billion tons of Russian freight.

Vladimir Putin: This will also bring more work for our ship repair yards?

Igor Levitin: Here we have a completely different picture. We will be able to take care of ship repair work in full and even begin shipbuilding activity, as in this case the insurance companies and banks could make loans at a good interest rate.

I would like to thank you for your support in obtaining the liberation of our seamen in Nigeria. I think that the changes we are undertaking now will spare us such problems in the future because our seamen will be under Russian jurisdiction.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, I know. I spoke with the Nigerian President when we were in the United States, at the UN Security Council. We had a chance to discuss things then.

This is a good decision. Of course I will sign the document immediately when I receive it.