CHINA TO FINANCE PIPELINE FROM BAKU TO TURKEY.

Chineseoil companies will provide $1.5 billion dollars to build a pipelinefrom Azerbaijan to Turkey, according to a June 29 press releaseby the US Oil Capital Company which is also involved in the project.No route was specified for the pipeline, but the press releaseimplied that it would not go through Russia. In other pipeline-relatedstories, Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev visited Bulgaria–whereMoscow wants to build a pipeline–to sign a new economic agreement;Russian radio reported June 29; and Iran will likely sign a pactto import gas from Turkmenistan, the BBC reported. The Britishstation also said that Turkmenistan plans to export at least someof its gas via Afghanistan. And the Iranian news agency IRNA saidon June 30 that the Caspian Sea states had once again been unableto agree on the legal status of that body of water.

Refugees from Abkhazia Stage Sit-in in Tbilisi.