By empty (8/9/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Officials of the British Petroleum (BP) office in Tbilisi announced on 9 August that construction of the Georgian section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline has resumed. The Georgian government halted construction of the $3 billion project on 19 July and publicly criticized BP for failing to provide adequate security measures designed to protect the environment from an accidental oil spill. Construction of the 248-kilometer Georgian section of the pipeline was launched in April and, along with the 443-kilometer Azerbaijani section, is to become fully operational by the end of 2004.

By empty (8/9/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Baramidze and Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava arrived in Moscow on 9 August for talks aimed at reducing tensions between the two countries regarding the situations in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Khaindrava told journalists that the goal of his mission is to convey to the Russian side the Georgian government\'s position on the two situations and \"to receive an answer to the question of from where the separatists are getting modern weaponry.\" The two men are expected to meet with Defense Minster Sergei Ivanov and the chief of the General Staff, Colonel General Yurii Balyuevskii.

By empty (8/9/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Armenian Trade and Development Minister Karen Chshmaritian said on 9 August at a Yerevan press conference that diamond production decreased by 17 percent for the first half of the year. The decline is tied to the shortfall in diamonds sent to Armenia by Russia for reprocessing and polishing. Russia has supplied Armenia with only 70,000 carats of unprocessed diamonds so far this year, well short of the 2004 quota of 400,000 carats.