Gov’t points at importance of Anaklia port for Europe, Asia at Batumi Int’l Conference
Georgian Infrastructure Minister Maia Tskitishvili said the Anaklia project has high support from the government. Photo: Ministry of Infrastructure press office.
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Georgian Minister of Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili has spoken about the importance of the Anaklia deep sea port, which aims to help establish the shortest route between Europe and Asia, at the ongoing 16th Batumi International Conference.
The Anaklia port is a trans-European project, it is an additional opportunity for European and Asian businesspeople to connect with one another via Georgia and with the help of Georgia,” Tskitishvili said.
She said that the government is doing all it can to support the private consortium which has the responsibility of attracting funds for the construction of the port.
Anaklia port is the 2.5 billion USD project which kicked off back in 2017. Photo: Government's press office.
We are doing our utmost for the project to be carried out and I am sure that all interested parties and private investors will fulfill their roles for commercial risks to be decreased,” Tskitishvili said.
Georgian government members, the Anaklia Development Consortium and international finance organisations (EBRD, OPIC, ADB, 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 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.
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 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.
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.
The Batumi 16th International Conference, dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative, will open tomorrow with an “unprecedented number” of foreign guests, including the president of the European Council Donald Tusk, Georgian Foreign Ministry reports.
Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkalinai says that the Batumi 16th International Conference has fulfilled its goal, where Georgia was once again featured as the leader country of the Eastern Partnership initiative, having achieved “big success” on its European path.
The Georgian Minister for Regional Development and Infrastructure Maia Tskitishvili says that although the Anaklia port is a “fully private project” the state contribution is “still high”. Tskitishvili says that overall the state has invested $250 million in the project, due to the importance of the Anaklia port for the country’s infrastructure.