Georgian government looks for EU and US investors for the Anaklia Deep Sea Port
On 17 February, the Georgian Economy Minister Natia Turnava stated that the Anaklia Deep Sea Port remains a priority for the country's economy and that the government looks for the involvement of American or European investors in the project, reported georgiatoday.
“We are pre-preparing the tender, which is why we want to involve consultants from some of the international financial institutions in the process, as it is more transparent and convincing. We are negotiating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; however, the decision has not been made yet. Also, we do not rule out talking to other financial institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, those financial institutions that have general practices to help the country in re-announcing tender and finding investors,” she said.
Turnava also spoke about the letter from the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) regarding bringing the case to arbitration. “It is a sovereign right of the ADC to start an arbitration, however, the government is not going to renew the agreement with them to build the Anaklia Deep Sea Port,” she said adding that the ADC had not fulfilled its obligations for years and that the government had no other optinion than to terminate the contract.
On 12 February, the Anaklia Development Consortium released a public statement, which read that the consortium will go for international arbitration with the Government of Georgia in regard to the Anaklia Deep Sea Port. The investment agreement between the Georgian government and the ADC was officially cancelled on 9 January (Caucasus Watch reported).