YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, ARMENPRESS. The ferry communication, which is supposed to ease the problem of queues in the Lars border checkpoint, has not been launched yet because the Poti port operator strictly follows both the European and American sanctions and has not yet committed to when it will respond for releasing or not releasing this or that cargo, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan said.

“The main reason why we are not starting it is that we want for that communication to be so stable and predictable so that the funds to be spent from the state budget (so far no money has been spent on the subsidy of the ferry communication) give their right economic result”, the minister stated. “As the operator of the Poti port is a Dutch company and strictly follows both the European and American sanctions, in fact, they have not assumed any commitment before us when they will respond for releasing or not releasing this or that cargo. Each cargo must be checked for compliance or non-compliance with the sanctions and, then they will decide to release it or not”, he added.

However, the minister hoped that they will manage to launch it before the bad weather starts. He said that the problem turned out to be quite complex than the government imagined from the very start. But he assured that they will do everything for that to happen as it is a very important connecting link between Armenia and the Eurasian continent.