Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday participated in World Economic Forum’s session on ‘Eurasia’s Middle Corridor: From Pathway to Highway.’

Asked about the expectations at the intergovernmental level after the recent series of multiparty agreements around the middle corridor, the PM first mentioned the war in Ukraine, calling it “catastrophic for the entire region and of course, it affects us as well.”

According to Garibashvili “this war showed us that countries and nations need to diversify their economies.”

“I think before the war, less countries paid less attention to the middle corridor but after the war, the attention is growing, is increasing. Therefore, as Mr President, Aliyev mentioned, and I also want to repeat that we have an excellent relationship with Azerbaijan, with Kazakhstan, with Turkey, we have a strategic partnership and I think the chemistry is here and this is a strong foundation to we are together,” he underscored.

Alluding to investments, the PM stressed that now Georgia is investing “heavily” in infrastructure, mentioning the highway project, slated to be completed by 2024. Garibashvili noted that this very project would cost 2-3 bln dollars and could facilitate transportation.

The head of the government also mentioned Georgian ports, saying Black Sea ports’ capacity “is quite big but I think we need to increase it.” In this context, he named the Ankalia Deep Sea Port project. The Georgian government will begin building the Ankalia Deep Sea Port, of which 51% is held by the state, while announcing an international tender for the remaining 49%. He claimed that the government has been talking to “many potential investors.”

“Why we are doing this, President Aliyev mentioned the increase of capacity of Azerbaijani ports. I think Kazakhstan has the same intention. So, Georgia has now a capacity of around 50,000 TEUs in Poti port, and around 20,000 in Batumi port but this is not enough. That is why we want to implement this project. I also want to mention that we are together with Azerbaijan, and we are developing different industries; for example, I want to mention Black Sea Submarine Cable which is also very interesting. This we are doing this together with Azerbaijan, with Romania, with Hungary and this initiative is backed by the EU. All four countries will implement, and invest in this very ambitious project,” he asserted.

Georgian PM noted that “we must be ready for the increased flow of goods,” adding that “this corridor, and this route is the shortest route to connect Asia with Europe.”

“For example, a train from China can come to Georgia within 15 days, a maximum of 20 days, compared to by sea, the ship takes 45 days. So, this is a very interesting, very important corridor. Two months ago we were in Kazakhstan where we signed and agreed on the roadmap of how to develop this corridor, and how to lift and remove artificially-created barriers. I am very optimistic that we will have a bigger potential and all these countries will benefit from this corridor,” he said.

Asked about trans-border transportation between Azerbaijan and Georgia, the PM named highway and railway. As for the latter, he went on to say that the Georgian railway capacity hits 25 mln tonnes.

“Right now we are implementing the modernization of railway. This will be completed by 2024 and the capacity will be about 48 mln tonnes. Besides that, together with Azerbaijan, we are building Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railroad. Several months ago, Azerbaijan provided additional funds to complete this project and this project will also be ready by 2024, this is another five mln tonnes of cargo,” he added.

The PM also described the relationship between Azerbaijan and Georgia, saying “this relationship is tested reliable, [and] trusted.”

“We have implemented together very important, historical, projects such as oil and gas pipelines. Now this railway project and many others which will come in future,” he asserted.