US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN142

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000142 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/ACE AND EUR/CACEN, PLEASE PASS MCC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, KMCA, PGOV, PREL, AM 
SUBJECT:  MCA COMPACT PROPOSAL NEARS COMPLETION - 
RAILWAYS NOW IN THE MIX 
 
Sensitive But Unlcassified -- Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1. (SBU) During a January 25 meeting with Embassy and 
USAID representatives, GOAM Deputy Minister of Finance 
and Economy Tigran Khachatryan said that the GOAM's 
consultants were nearing completion on the MCA compact 
proposal and expected to present a copy to the GOAM MCA 
Board by February 10.  After the Board discusses the 
draft, the GOAM plans to take 10-15 days for "final 
revisions" and then open a round of public 
consultations to discuss the document.  Khachatryan 
said the timeline had been pushed back due to both 
technical issues related to the drafting of the compact 
and because key players - including himself and the 
Minister of Finance and Economy - had been absent 
recently due to medical problems. 
 
 
2. (SBU) Khachatryan said the draft compact proposal 
now included a portion dedicated to railway projects. 
He reported that the decision to include railway 
infrastructure improvement in the proposal was a recent 
development and was supported by the Prime Minister's 
office.  While Khachatyran could not provide more 
detail as to the nature of the railway proposal, he 
suggested it would involve improvements to already 
existing lines or the creation of new branches that 
would feed into Armenia's international rail links. 
 
3. (SBU) Post will continue to provide updates as more 
information becomes available. 
EVANS