Page 24 - bne_newspaper_July_13_2018

Opinion
July 13, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 24
A new broom in Tbilisi, but the same old problems with Russia
Emil Avdaliani in Tbilisi
Georgia has a new government headed by Mamuka Bakhtadze. How could this potentially impact Georgian-Russian relations in the light of the recent agreement on economic corridors through Georgia’s breakaway territories and the rising level of trade between the two states? Probably not a lot.
In December 2017, Tbilisi signed a contract with
a Swiss company, known by its acronym, SGS, to monitor the Abkhazia and Samachablo (aka South Ossetia) trade corridor, among other things.
In late May 2018 Moscow followed suit. The initiative involves linking Russia and Georgia via
a trade corridor through South Ossetia, a faster, wider and, in winter, safer route than the Kazbegi- Upper Lars mountain pass over which most cargo between the two countries travels today.
The agreement comes on the tenth anniversary
of the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and almost three-decade long separatist conflicts in the regions of Abkhazia and Samachablo. Despite
the geopolitical differences between Russia and Georgia, trade between the breakaway territories and the rest of Georgia has in fact increased. Even the European Union began testing options for opening Abkhazia to businesses under the free trade agreement it has with Georgia.
The agreement on trade corridors should be beneficial for everyone in the region. Samachablo gets better access to the Russian and Georgian
Can trade between Georgia and Russia improve relations?
markets. Russia also can increase its trade with the small republic. And Armenia is a big winner, as by signing up it improves its access to Russia, as the only country in the Caucasus that doesn't have a boarder with Russia.
Trade has been rising since 2015 at the only crossing for motor vehicles between Samachablo and Georgia proper, connecting Akhalgori to the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region of Georgia. In 2017, trade increased: large numbers of trucks were common. An average of twenty trucks per day were passing through the checkpoint to deliver goods from Tbilisi to the breakaway territory’s markets. Georgian commodities, despite costing two to three times the price in Samachablo,
are nevertheless much cheaper than the same products imported from Russia. By the start of this year approximately 1,500 tonnes of cargo were reaching Akhalgori per month.
According to the Abkhaz authorities, 150 tonnes of commercial cargo cross the conflict divide daily, in both directions. The freight’s annual value ranges from $7mn to $15mn, according to International Alert studies conducted in 2010-2015.
The economic advantages of closer cooperation are obvious, but the politics remain fraught:
none of the interested parties are willing to
make concessions on the territory’s eventual political status. Moreover, the differences between Tbilisi and Moscow are in fact so wide that more progress in bilateral relations is unlikely to follow.