US Ambassador questions Georgia’s Anaklia Port deal with Chinese company

US Ambassador to Georgia, Robin Dunnigan, has raised concerns about the Georgian government’s decision to deepen economic ties with China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) for the Anaklia deep sea port project in the country’s west, near the country’s Russian-occupied Abkhazia region. 

In an interview with domestic media, Dunnigan highlighted the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) role as the majority owner of CCCC and its substantial financial support for the Russian military.

“The Chinese Communist Party is the number one financier of the Russian military today. One question is, why deepen economic ties with the party that finances your occupier?” Dunnigan  said. 

She also questioned the quality and standards of CCCC, citing its problematic reputation. “In 2009, the World Bank banned financing for infrastructure projects implemented by this company. Recently, CCCC built a controversial port in Sri Lanka, which led to a 99-year lease of Sri Lankan land to the Chinese government, compromising the country’s sovereignty,” she noted.

“There are many concerns about Anaklia port. Of course, this is a sovereign decision, but I am echoing global concerns about this particular company,” Dunnigan emphasised.

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in May affirmed that the Anaklia deep-sea port project would be executed at the “highest standard” following the “successful tender bid” by a Chinese state-owned company. 

Addressing the media, Kobakhidze dismissed “rumours and speculations” over the Chinese company’s victory, emphasising the company’s “extensive experience and significant role” in the project’s future.

Previously, during Giorgi Gakharia’s premiership in early 2020, the government terminated the investment agreement for the port’s construction with Anaklia Development Consortium, citing its “failure” to fulfil mandatory obligations. 

However, leaders of the Consortium, now top  figures in the Lelo opposition party, Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze, claimed the government had “deliberately hampered” the port construction “on the instructions of Bidzina Ivanishvili [the former PM and ruling party founder]” as Russia opposed the project, which was expected to increase the country’s attractiveness to the West and NATO.