BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 12. Georgia aims to turn
the Middle Corridor into a gateway of choice, said Zviad
Chkhartishvili, Director of Poti Sea Port Administration of
Georgia.
Speaking at the 10th anniversary Trans-Caspian Forum, held by
the Caspian Policy Center in Washington, DC on June 10,
Chkhartishvili gave important insight into Georgia’s critical role
in the development of Middle Corridor infrastructure.
“To expand the Middle Corridor’s capacity, we have been deeply
engaged with the government of Georgia and the countries of Central
Asia on how to transform one of the best alternative routes to a
gateway of choice, to become competitive with the Northern and
Southern Corridor,”he said.
Chkhartishvili also shared insight into Georgia’s investment
into infrastructure, adding that “in the Middle Corridor, most
commodities are transported the old way by railway or road
transportation, so now we provide an increased budget
of containerization. In the next year to three years, we will have
a modern port expansion project. Already the Poti port project is
one of the biggest we have developed,
with state-of-the-art infrastructure.”
Asked about the effects of global instability, Chkhartishvili
also noted that, “For supply chains, the most important part
is sustainability in this turbulent period when the Strait of
Hormuz is closed. Fortunately, we already have the Middle Corridor.
The next step now is transforming it into a competitive
corridor.”
Earlier, during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye in April
this year, Levan Zhorzholiani, Head of the Government
Administration of Georgia said that his country needs cooperation
with partners to advance the Middle Corridor.
“We are promoting the Trans-Caspian Transport Corridor (Middle
Corridor), and we need cooperation with our friends in this
direction,” he noted.
Georgia says it has made steady progress toward bolstering
Middle Corridor connectivity.
“Countries of our region, whether we call it the Silk Road,
CAREC 2, Middle Corridor or Trans Caspian route, have been trained
in resilience for centuries and it is being realized that the
current challenges need the resilient efforts to be made
collectively. Georgia has made steady progress toward its strategic
objectives—completing core infrastructure of East–West highway,
bolstering Middle Corridor connectivity and has a strong agenda of
further enhancement of the road, rail, energy, and digital
connectivity and energy security and independence,” said the
country’s Minister of Finance Lasha Khutsishvili in his statement
for ADB Annual Meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
