The Georgian government on Monday outlined the stages of the Anaklia deep sea port project​​ in western Georgia.

The stages, in line with the public cooperation law, entail project identification, initiation, preparation, private partner selection and assessment of implementation, Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili announced today, following the Cabinet meeting.

Under the fresh law, the identification and initiation phases have already been passed, said the Minister, hoping the implementation process could be revved up shortly, thus moving it directly to the partner selection stage.

In his remark, Davitashvili hinted at project-linked meetings stemming from the “high interest” in it.

“They include a delegation from Abu Dhabi ports that learned about the project first-hand. Today, we have meetings and discussions with several delegations of the Persian Gulf. There were many visits to Central Asian countries, which also show an interest in this port; its infrastructure serves exactly the interests of the Middle Corridor,” he asserted.

In January 2020, the government revoked a new port project contract with the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) due to concerns about financing and project progress. It claimed that the deadline for obtaining the funding had been postponed six times.