McCain Institute head says completing Anaklia Port Project of strategic importance

Completing the Anaklia Port project is of strategic importance, the Executive Director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership Kurt Volker said in an exclusive interview with Georgia Today published on September 2.

Volker touched on disagreements between the Anaklia Development Consortium and the government. 

There are obviously issues around financing for the project - [the government] says that the consortium has been unable to secure sufficient financing and [the consortium] is asking too much from the government for a private project - so, [you have] conflicting narratives”, said Volker. 

Volker said that Georgia is a small country wedged between Russian and Iran, which is a potential transit hub for commerce from Central Asia to Europe and from Europe to Central Asia. 

[Anaklia Port] is a way of linking Georgia’s economy to a global economy and the way of linking the economy of Central Asia to the global economy through Georgia. So, it has great potential to be an additional element in creating economical alternative, stability, growth and attraction for further investment in Georgia and region”, said Volker. 

The latest timeline presented by the consortium says that the construction of the port will be completed in June of 2022 instead of announced 2020. Photo: Anaklia Port. 

He also added that this port has tremendous potential as a project that will strategically reinforce Georgia’s independence as a growing economic power.

As for Russia's opinion that the Anaklia project is a threat as it could bring US and NATO submarines into the area, Volker referred it as a typical example of how the Russian propaganda machine works.

This is a typical example of how the Russian propaganda machine works. There’s nothing in this project that is driven by war considerations or the involvement of the US military; this is about the economic development of Georgia and region”, said Volker. 

Georgian government members, the Anaklia Development Consortium and international finance organisations (EBRD, OPIC, ADB, and AIIB) met in May to discuss the details of the Anaklia Deep Sea Water project development.

The meeting discussed eight demands that international financial institutions requested to be fulfilled in order to further invest in the project.

The construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017. Photo: Anaklia Port. 

The proposed changes include insuring the commercial risks of an investor, regulation of development phases of the port and reimbursement of damage generated by legislative amendments.

The construction of Anaklia Deep Sea Port started in 2017, while the opening of the first phase of the port and the receiving of ships in Anaklia was planned for 2021. 

The latest timeline presented by the consortium says that the construction of the port will be completed in June of 2022 instead of announced 2020, announced the Ministry of Infrastructure on July 30.

Despite unprecedented support from the government, the project has so far failed to obtain the needed $400 million in loans from international financial institutions and to put forward its own capital of $120 million.     

The deadline for obtaining the funding has been postponed several times and the consortium was to have met this obligation by the end of 2019.