Negotiations held on Anaklia Port:
What issues remain unsolved between state, financial institutions?
Construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017, while the opening of the first phase of the port and receiving the ships in Anaklia is planned for 2021. Photo: Anaklia Development Consortium.
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Representatives of the Georgian government, the Anaklia Development Consortium and international finance organisations (EBRD, OPIC, ADB, AIIB) met today to discuss the details of the Anaklia Deep Sea Water project development.
Today’s meeting discussed those eight demands that the international financial institutions requested to be fulfilled in order to further invest in the project.
The proposed changes include insurance of commercial risks of an investor, regulation of development phases of the port and reimbursement of damage generated by legislative amendments.
- Find out more about the Anaklia Deep Sea Port project in the article ‘Project of the Century: Georgia starts to build Anaklia Deep Sea Port’ by Mariam Papidze on Agenda.ge.
Georgian Infrastructure Minister Maya Tskitishvili said after the meeting that the main agreement reached between all three sides is that Anaklia's port is strategically important for Georgia.
Tskitishvili said that the state has the “most difficult position” on insurance of commercial risks and this issue remains still as the unsolved one.
State cannot insure the investor’s commercial risks. We are discussing this issue with the banks and consortium in order to find out what additional tools are possible to be used for insuring commercial risks so the state does not have to take this risk”, said Tskitishvili.
Construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017, while the opening of the first phase of the port and receiving the ships in Anaklia is planned for 2021.
Anaklia Deep Sea Port project has once again become the topic of discussion, the main question now being whether the Georgian government is considering backing out of an agreement signed with the Anaklia Development Consortium in 2016.
The Anaklia Development Consortium has published a statement responding to yesterday’s speech of the Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Maya Tskitishvili in parliament, where she said that investors in the project have eight demands before moving forward.
Georgian Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maya Tskitishvili says international financial institutions have eight demands that should be fulfilled in order to invest in the project. Tskitishvili said that the investors demand a feasibility study of each phase and say that the port development should not be linked to any specific date and should start only after the feasibility study is done.
Georgian Infrastructure Minister Maia Tskitishvili says that there is no connection between the Anaklia deep sea port project and the ongoing money laundering investigation involving the founders of TBC Bank. She says that Anaklia Consortium, had faced problems in attracting funds for the 2.5 billion USD project before the investigation was launched involving TBC Bank.
A deep sea port in Georgia’s Black Sea port town of Poti will not be built as the construction permit for the port has been cancelled, says Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gregory Karasin says that the “tone used” towards Russia by US State Secretary Mike Pompeo during his meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze “is not something that is in Russian interests.”
No project has received more state support than the Anaklia project, announced the candidate for Minister of Regional Development and Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili yesterday in parliament.