Page 46 - GEORptDec20

energy imports. It is unlikely that the ambitious project would have been realised without this backing.
Construction on the €4.5bn ($5.3bn) TAP took four and a half years to complete, with the pipeline originally due to have started operations in early 2020. Delays were earlier caused by permitting issues in Italy, where there has been a strong backlash to the pipeline from environmentalists. Construction work this year was also disrupted by coronavirus-related restrictions.
9.1.2​ Transport sector news
Maersk launches first “block train” to link China and Georgia
Danish integrated shipping company Maersk has operated the first block train—a train type in which all the railcars carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination—connecting China and Georgia.​ It is the first such service developed specifically to meet Georgian import requirements.
On October 4, the train from Xi’an in Shaanxi province, China, arrived in Tbilisi, completing a journey that inaugurated the new rail connection, which complements Maersk’s current coverage of the Caucasian republics (Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia), Maersk ​announced​.
“We are extremely happy to manage the first ever block train shipment under a product based entirely on intercontinental rail. We arranged this special service specifically for Georgian customers, and we plan to develop block train solutions for the whole Caucasus Region”, Irakli Danelia, Georgia commercial representative at A.P. Moller – Maersk, said in a press release.
In addition to providing another goods transit connection between Asia and Europe, further expansion of the product will strengthen Georgia’s role in the New Silk Road development. Xi'an has traditionally been the starting point of the Silk Road, namely the land routes that have connected East and West for over one thousand years.
“We look forward to seeing the first block train shipment under Maersk’s intercontinental rail (ICR) product help Georgia and this corridor in becoming a connecting bridge between Europe and Asia,” added Danelia.
9.1.3​ Aviation sector news
Georgia to resume Europe flights despite climbing Covid count
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia has stated that his government has no plans to declare a state of emergency or implement any other systemic restrictions amid the serious expansion of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Georgia.
The resumption of flights as of November 1 suggests that the loosening of such restrictions is rather on the way.
The Georgian Civil Aviation Agency (GCAA) has released a list of airports where restrictions on regular aviation will be lifted and direct flights will be resumed from November 1.
The GCAA said that restrictions would be lifted on direct regular flights carried out between Tbilisi International Airport and the airports of Doha, Warsaw, Athens, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin and Milan.
The restrictions will also be lifted on regular flights implemented between Georgia’s Kutaisi international airport and the airports of Katowice, Vilnius and Dortmund.
As stated by Minister of Economy Natia Turanva, Georgian citizens arriving from abroad will no longer have to undergo mandatory quarantine upon returning to their homeland as long as they undergo a PCR test for the virus. "It is the second wave and the number of infected people is increasing daily.
46​ GEORGIA Country Report ​December 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com