DE S T INAT IONS
38
Georgia aims to become a logistical hub between Eurasia and Europe
the lack of modern deep- sea Georgian ports; and a northern one, via Russia, on which most east-west land trade currently flows. Anaklia proposes to change that by giving the middle corridor the deep-sea port it lacks and
removing the bottleneck.” It’s an appealing prospect, but there is a problem. Since Anaklia
PORTS OF CALL Even here, however, controversy reigns. Te new deep- sea port on the Black Sea, called Anaklia, is an important element of Georgia’s aim to become a logistical hub between Eurasia and Europe. Te largest ships can easily pass into the Black Sea, but there is currently no port at the eastern end to accommodate them. At the same time, on the Caspian Sea coast, new ports being built by Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan (Aylat, Aktau and Turkmenbashi) would allow goods from China to be disembarked and then transported across the South Caucasus to Anaklia. As the Economist described in February this year: “Currently there are three land corridors between China and Europe: a southern one, via Iran, made impractical by American sanctions; a middle one, via the Caspian Sea and then across Georgia to the Black Sea, made impractical by
NOV EMB E R 2 0 19
would be a deep-sea port, it would also be able to accommodate military vessels. Speaking at the fiſth Tbilisi International
Conference in an interview for the Georgian Institute
for Security Policy, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commanding general of the US armed forces in Europe, described it as a “dream scenario” having Georgia as “a place where US Navy ships would come in… for maintenance, refurbishment [and] port visits”. It would also help to facilitate Georgia’s entry into NATO, something that has been on and off since the 2008 NATO Bucharest summit. Logic seems to dictate that Georgia should join
FROM TOP: St Nicholas church overlooks Tbilisi; the Bridge Of Peace spans the Kura river in the capital
NATO, but this would mean a negotiation about the most famous article of membership – Article 5, which states that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all. Since Russia has maintained thousands of troops in the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, it is unsurprisingly opposed to Georgia joining → CONTINUED ON PAGE 96
bus ine s s tr a v el ler .c om
VVVITA/RUSLANKALN/ISTOCK
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