The ‘Big Game’ Around Georgia’s Deep-Water Ports
Publication: Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 18 Issue: 79
Anaklia deep-water port mockup (Source: Agenda.ge)
Last March, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili announced that his government would post a new tender for the construction of the Anaklia deep-water port (Report.ge March 31; Netgazeti, March 4). This mega-project, originally envisioned by former president Mikhail Saakashvili (in power 2004–2012), is the most ambitious in Georgian history. Several years ago, the country’s parliament even amended the constitution to facilitate its development, obligating any future government to build a deep-water port on the Black Sea coast of Georgia. The completion of such a port promises to upend the geopolitical and geo-economic situation of the Caucasus, Central Asia, and the Black and Caspian Sea regions (Jam-news.net, January 1, 2020).