Page 36 - GEORptDec17

with Gazprom, which is perceived as a political tool of the Kremlin. Until 2007, Georgia used to import all its gas from Russia, but diversified its imports after the 2008 Russian invasion of its territory and after neighbouring Azerbaijan launched its gas production.
American energy company Frontera Resources has made several exploration attempts in Georgia, but appear to have been fruitless thus far.
9.1.2 Transport sector news
Georgia and Russia are on the verge of signing an agreement to improve transit between the two countries, Carnegie Europe's Tom de Waal wrote on November 27.
The two countries have had thorny relations ever since the dissolution of the Soviet Union due to tensions over the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Even since Russia recognised the regions' independence in 2008, Tbilisi and Moscow have not had diplomatic ties.
At the same time, the Georgian-Russian border provides an important trade corridor through which most land freight from Azerbaijan, Turkey and Iran is transported northwards to Russia. At the moment, freight is transported through a narrow mountainous corridor that is inoperable for five months of the year due to the risk of avalanches. Countless cargoes of fruit, vegetables and other perishables have been ruined because of the tensions between the two countries. Therefore, the agreement will likely boost regional trade.
Three other corridors have been under discussion, but progress on negotiations has been slow because two of them pass through Abkhazia and South Ossetia. The two countries are however inching closer to an agreement, de Waal writes.
The agreement has been in the works since 2011, and was a tacit condition for Georgia not to block Russia's bid to become a member of the World Trade Organisation. One of the key conditions is that a foreign company, which has been confirmed as Switzerland's SGS, will check and seal the cargoes. Negotiations are currently being mediated by Switzerland.
Meanwhile, the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) 826-kilometre railway, connecting Azerbaijan to Georgia and Turkey, was inaugurated on October 30 when two freight trains carrying goods from Kazakhstan were set in motion from the Azerbaijani port of Alat. The project has been in the making for over a decade. Estimates of its cost vary between $1bn and over $3bn. According to a statement issued by the EU delegation in Baku, the ralway represents a major step in interconnecting Central Asia, Europe, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
9.1.3 Agriculture sector news
Favouritism has decimated the number of Georgian companies that rear and sell sheep, an investigation by Studio Monitor, an associate of the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), revealed on August 16.
36 GEORGIA Country Report December 2017 www.intellinews.com