Georgian President comments on construction of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline

Georgia should pay a lot of attention to the ecological security and employment of local population while constructing the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline, Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said in an interview on national radio commenting his recent meeting with the head of the BP-Azerbaijan company. The Georgian President pointed out that these aspects were the priorities for the European Union (EU) too. According to Shevardnadze, the European Commission is considering the strategy of the Caucasian project and it will soon adopt a document concerning this issue. The project of the construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline has entered into a real phase: the engineering part of the project is to be finished soon and negotiations with the potential international investors are being conducted at present, the president stressed. He was quoted as saying that the construction of the pipeline would start in June, the Black Sea PRESS agency reported.