Because the Kars–Gyumri section has been inoperative due to the closed Turkish-Armenian border, an agreement was signed in April 2005 to build a direct connection across the Turkish-Georgian border from Kars to Akhalkalaki in Georgia, and to rehabilitate the existing railways from Akhalkalaki to Tbilisi and Baku, thus creating the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku mainline. The European Union (EU) and the United States declined to assist in financing or promoting the new mainline, because they saw it as designed to bypass Armenia, and supported the reopening of the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway line instead. However, the EU did "welcome" the opening of the line.