Parliament Speaker highlights state’s “best standards” in response to int’l court ruling on Anaklia port project arbitration

Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Tuesday said the ruling of the International Arbitration Court in favour of the state in its dispute over the Government’s 2020 cancellation of a contract with a consortium tasked with building a major deepwater port in the north-western Black Sea town of Anaklia had “confirmed” that the Georgian state, its governance and justice were “acting according to the best international standards”.

Papuashvili’s comments came after the Court ordered Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze - partners in the Anaklia Development Consortium for the project, founders of TBC Bank and now leaders of the Lelo opposition party - to pay $650,000 in favour of the Georgian state in its ruling on the dispute.

The Court also confirmed the Georgian Government had terminated the investment agreement with the Consortium on a legal basis, and rejected the plaintiff's demand for $1.5 billion in compensation.

Papuashvili claimed the ruling had also demonstrated that “Georgians and foreigners who attack the Georgian state and justice are motivated only by the interest of harming our country and our citizens”.

Finally, it has become clear what was the real reason for Khazaradze and Japaridze's entry into politics, the basis for the creation of the Lelo party and, most recently, the true essence of uniting with other small parties and the non-governmental sector. It is clear that it was a financial scheme to receive money from the budget and, at the expense of citizens, create a political entourage for further enrichment”, he alleged.

The Consortium won a tender for constructing the port in 2016, with the Government cancelling the contract in 2020 for failure of the company to facilitate the project within timelines.