The working visit of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to Georgia on Sunday was rather routine, except for some excitement around the fact that it was, as they say in political circles, “unexpected” (it was not announced by either party); and that Aliyev was personally escorted by Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili (and met by the Minister of Economy Levan Davitashvili).
Some speak about “special honor” as a normal phenomenon, referring to mutually beneficial and friendly relations between Tbilisi and Baku (the latter has repeatedly helped and supported Georgia), while others emphasize “subservience” and ingratiation to Azerbaijan.
In short, there are always detractors, but they will not be able to negatively affect Georgia-Azerbaijan relations. As for the reasons for the “unexpectedness” of the visit, they either exist or they do not: in any case, no malicious intent should be sought in them, but curiosity is still piqued.
Before we proceed to the press statements of the two heads of state, note that Baku and Tbilisi are strategic partners and actively cooperate both in bilateral format and as part of international projects. The pioneering role of Heydar Aliyev and Eduard Shevardnadze in this should be emphasized.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (Türkiye) railroad built on Georgian territory with Azerbaijani loans, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (Türkiye) oil pipeline and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum (Türkiye) gas pipeline are considered strategically significant projects.
The trade turnover between the two countries is far from ambitious, but it is growing and is approaching $1 billion. Azerbaijan is one of the top 5 largest foreign trade partners of Georgia today. As for the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railroad, its annual carrying capacity at this stage is 6.5 million tons of cargo and 1 million passengers, with the prospect of increasing both figures many times over.
In his press statement after the meeting with Garibashvili, Aliyev spoke about joint energy and transport projects and deepening cooperation in the relevant fields.
“Our joint energy and transport projects serve the energy and transport security of many countries today. There is also an unequivocal agenda for the deepening of cooperation. We are happy to participate in the creation of new infrastructure projects in Georgia. Today we exchanged views on the construction of the Anaklia port (more on this later—Author). As you know, Azerbaijan has Kulevi port on the Black Sea coast of Georgia, and the expansion of that port will certainly strengthen our cooperation,” Aliyev said.
He also spoke about increasing the carrying capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway by several times, which “will certainly serve to strengthen the Middle Corridor.”
As for energy, according to the Azerbaijani President, it is a traditional area of cooperation with Georgia. He emphasized the development of “green” energy, on which the sides are also working in a coordinated manner: the feasibility study of the relevant project is being finalized. “I am sure that after that we will start concrete work. Major investment is planned, and thus the ‘Green Energy Corridor’, an energy cable will be built, strengthening the energy security of both Azerbaijan and our partner countries,” said the President.
In general, he explained, all the projects implemented in Georgia, Azerbaijan and partner states are vital not only for the South Caucasus, but also for the entire European continent.
Garibashvili was also satisfied with the meeting and reaffirmed Georgia’s successful cooperation with Azerbaijan, be it energy, transport, logistics or any other area. In particular, he talked about the development of the Middle Corridor in coordination with Azerbaijan, which includes modernization of railroads and roads (construction of the East-West expressway will be completed soon), expansion and construction of ports. The Georgian Prime Minister, too, mentioned cooperation with Azerbaijan in the construction of the deep-water Anaklia port on the Black Sea.
“We want to have a very long strategic partnership and friendship with Azerbaijan. I believe in our joint vision!” the Georgian PM said.
And, of course, he touched upon the need to establish lasting peace and stability in the region. “All three countries of the South Caucasus should address regional issues themselves,” Garibashvili believes.
The Prime Minister also expressed Tbilisi’s readiness to take part in the process of shaping a mediation, facilitation or friendly format. “We have great hopes that Azerbaijan and Armenia sign a peace agreement. Our views on the peace agenda in the South Caucasus fully coincide. We do hope that peace in this region will be sustainable and serve the prosperity of our countries, as well as the people of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. We have always been impartial here in Georgia and are ready to contribute to this issue today. We want to be a mediator in this matter and are ready to offer any friendly format. Our future should be peaceful and stable, and all three countries of the South Caucasus should address regional issues themselves,” the Prime Minister said.
Aliyev expressed willingness to negotiate in Georgia with representatives of Armenia on normalization of relations, but this requires Yerevan’s consent: “If it is not lop-sided and biased, of course, we welcome any mediation and assistance. However, in my opinion, taking into account both the historical relations and the geographical factor, the most correct option in this field would certainly be Georgia.”
He added that if Yerevan agrees, the heads of the relevant Azerbaijani agencies can immediately “come to Georgia for both bilateral and trilateral meetings.” Aliyev thanked the Georgian PM for his “readiness to help us in this issue, offering us his role as a mediator.”
What can Georgia’s role be here? It can provide its own platform for Armenia-Azerbaijan negotiations without extra-regional watchdogs, who do nothing but mainly pursue their own interests in the South Caucasus. Georgia cannot influence the world’s political monsters, but it can create a comfortable environment for negotiations, which is of no small importance. Besides, it is a good example of peaceful coexistence of Armenians and Azerbaijanis on its territory, not to mention representatives of other nations and ethnicities. And this is despite the fact that Tbilisi has no control over 20% of its territory, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
The issue of establishing peace in the South Caucasus should ideally be the prerogative of the South Caucasus republics themselves, with due consideration and respect for each other’s legitimate interests and without infringing on the security of the bordering countries. But in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the situation in the South Caucasus was not conducive to the establishment of an appropriate format, which gave external players the opportunity to take the reins in the region, applying double and triple standards.
However, the situation is changing, and it was Azerbaijan that was able to change it by initiating, again, ideally, completely new political processes. And this state of affairs should be maintained and developed with all available opportunities. Especially in the light of recent events around Israel and the Middle East in general, set on fire by specific destructive political centers: Brzezinski’s theories, transferred to the practical plane, are immortal for the time being. And the Middle East, as we know, borders the South Caucasus, which is also being systematically rocked, along with Central Asia.
And now is the time for unity, integration processes within the region, building a wall between the region and those forces that have launched projects to conquer Eurasia and not only Eurasia. But there are very serious doubts about Armenia’s capacity to negotiate, otherwise the example of what is happening in the Middle East and other regions, not to mention the outcome of the last Karabakh war, would have taught it something.
Both heads of state mentioned the construction of the Anaklia port, which has been the subject of scandals of varying degrees of severity for several years. In the context of regional problems, Azerbaijan’s involvement in the construction of the port would be an ideal solution.
The problem is as follows. Anaklia is a resort village in the Zugdidi municipality in western Georgia, near the administrative border with Abkhazia. The geographical status of this place alone speaks of its strategic importance and causes obvious interest at least on the part of Russia, the United States and NATO in general.
This is the second time the Georgian government is trying to launch construction of the port with a starting capacity of 7.8 million tons of cargo. The depth of the port was supposed to be 20.5 meters and the total length of 32 berths 12.3 kilometers. The port is supposed to provide services for large ships that Batumi and Poti cannot receive. Its project cost was estimated at 2.5 billion dollars.
In 2016, the new harbor was to be built by a Georgian-American consortium represented by TBC Holding and the American company Conti International. However, this company encountered a number of problems. In particular, according to official information, charges of money laundering were brought against two bankers, managers of the Georgian holding company, and Conti International withdrew from the consortium.
Two international arbitration proceedings with the Government of Georgia by the Anaklia Development Consortium and its investor are currently underway. The amount of compensation demanded in these disputes exceeds 1.5 billion dollars.
The accused bankers described the charges against them as politically motivated with the aim of attempting to disrupt the construction of the port: both are now in opposition to the authorities and have established their own political party, Lelo. Opponents of the authorities claim that the construction of the port was “forbidden by Russia.” And the United States sharply criticizes the Georgian authorities because of the suspension of the project.
Georgia started looking for a new investor on the condition that the state would own 51% of shares in the Anaklia port. The Ministry of Economy announced an international bidding competition to select partners and companies to participate in the project, in the implementation of which the government will invest 300 million dollars at the first stage.
Two consortiums, a Swiss-Luxembourg consortium and a Chinese-Singaporean one, are willing to build the port. Initially, there were four bidders and, as the Georgian Minister of Economy emphasized, there were no American or Russian companies among them. But now the Georgian government is accused by the opposition of making a corrupt deal with China, although the winner of the tender has not been named yet; it will be known at the end of the year.
This raises the question: in what capacity can Azerbaijan be involved in the construction of the Anaklia port? The question is extremely important both for Georgia and the region at large from all points of view, most importantly geopolitical and geostrategic ones. But at this stage the answer to it can only be known “at the top”. As well as the answer to the question, what, in addition to the above official information, was the reason for Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Georgia.
Irina Jorbenadze
Translated from Minval.az
