Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, is leading a drive to persuade the State Department to open a consulate in the Soviet republic of Armenia.
Owens, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote a letter signed by 45 other members of Congress to Secretary of State James Baker III Monday asking for the new consulate.He said it would help increase business opportunities for Americans, would monitor slow relief efforts for earthquake victims there and help provide information on ethnic unrest in the region.
He said the U.S. Embassy in Moscow is too distant and overworked to take advantage of Armenian opportunities.
Owens, who traveled to Armenia a few months ago, noted that 500,000 people still are homeless because of a December 1988 earthquake that killed 25,000.
"This monumental problem has been compounded by the mass inward migration of 250,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing from violence in surrounding Azerbaijan and Tajikistan," the letter said. Much of the relief for them has been cut off by railroad blockades by ethnic groups in Azerbaijan.
"(An) American consulate in the region will further serve to monitor and coordinate relief efforts and encourage a more active role by Soviet authorities to maintain open transportation lines," the letter said. It added that a consulate in the region could likely better provide news about ethnic unrest developments.
Also, the letter said, "Armenian enterprises in electronics, computers and medical equipment offer the greatest opportunity to American business for joint ventures and investment.
"With an American consulate in Armenia, a very prominent community of nearly 1 million Armenian-Americans would be able to utilize their common language and shared cultural traditions to develop U.S.-Soviet Armenian trade."