Translated by Adrian Baden
During the international Raisina Dialogue conference in New Delhi, the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Maka Bochorishvili, met with her Indian colleague Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Throughout the meeting and during previous government visits, the focus was on economic and trade matters.
At the meeting, Bochorishvili mentioned the construction of the deep sea port in Anaklia that isn’t solely being carried out by “a Chinese company,” and is being called a “middle corridor,” one of Georgian Dream’s founding political priorities.
“Georgia may be too small of a country to determine geopolitical processes, but it is located where geopolitical interests interact which creates new possibilities,” Bochorishvili said during his speech.
Following the Georgian government’s decision to suspend European integration processes and many statements discrediting the EU, Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and his administration made a series of visits to Asian countries, bypassing the European Union. During each of them, Georgian Dream representatives brought up the issue of investments, development of energy sources, and modernization of trade routes.
China
Attempting to compensate for the decline in Western investments, Georgian authorities intensified cooperation with the PRC. It mainly comes down to the transport corridor. In India, Maka Bochorishvili again mentioned the “Middle Corridor,” China’s key international route, as well as the Anaklia port being constructed by Chinese builders.
“I wouldn’t associate it with geopolitics, this is more about economic cooperation,” the MIA head clarified.
Grigol Gegelia, one of the leaders of the Strong Georgia party, notes though that by calling the Anaklia project unrelated to politics, Bochorishvili maintains that Georgian Dream’s “regime follows Russian instructions.”
“They erased Georgia’s role and its national interests when they declared that the largest strategic project–the Anaklia deep sea port–was supposedly unconnected to politics. Anaklia is the basis for Georgian military, economic, and political development. The project could bring billions in investments and income and create tens of thousands of jobs,” Gegelia stated.
In the view of transport communications specialist Rauf Aghamirzayev, China remains interested in the economic development of the South Caucasus, but so far only has “target projects.”
“There is a target, but it’s not large. There’s an interest, and the more cargo traffic in our direction increases, I think the more interest will increase.”
At the same time, Beijing isn’t the potential investor that Georgian Dream needs. As economist and Caucasus University professor Vakhtang Partsvania notes, even with Russia where the PRC actively developed economic relations during the last few years of war in Ukraine, there are still no industrial enterprises.
“China practically doesn’t invest abroad. Even in Russia, where Chinese brands dominate the auto market, only one automotive plant opened–in the Tula region. In Georgia, there are still no serious Chinese industrial enterprises. Therefore, hoping to replace European investments with Chinese accounts is groundless. Chinese business is interested in the transit of raw materials, not in developing the Georgian economy,” Partsvania says.
India
In New Delhi, the MIA head of Georgian Dream didn’t only talk about developing relations with China but also discussed signing a free trade agreement with India, another Eastern giant.
Such an agreement could be a way to reduce or eliminate duties on goods and services between the countries, therefore increasing trade and encouraging investments. Here, the main competitor of New Delhi would be Beijing.
“If you compare China and India, I think China is in a much better position–it already has specific working routes,” Rauf Aghamirzayev notes.
The expert recalls that there were previously other transport projects planned. For example, the IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor) which opened a new route from Mumbai to UAE, through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Israel through access to a port in Haifa.
“But we see there that the situation is tricky due to the Gaza Strip, and this complicates the process. And they [India] are currently only operating through sea travel,” explains Aghamirzayev.
Today, the main transport route that joins Georgia and India is the North-South Corridor where one branch passes through Georgian ports and carries Indian products to Europe. But transport corridors aren’t serious economic investments for the country.
“Re-export doesn’t create jobs, it doesn’t develop production, it doesn’t involve technology. As opposed to foreign investments, it doesn’t have a long-term economic basis or bring added value to the country, it only helps a small circle of businessmen and related officials. But more importantly, re-export channels can at any moment be stopped and the receiving countries can establish protective barriers for goods being re-exported from third countries,” notes Vakhtang Partsvania.
Thus, examining Georgia’s ruling party’s actions, the issue arises whether the country can operate transit of goods on a long-term basis. After all, this requires not only immense investment but a stable internal and external political climate.
