Китай - Южный Кавказ: Сотрудничество в транспортно-логистических узлах «Пояса и пути»

Georgia is also investing heavily in infrastructure projects on its part of the Asia-Europe route. Tunnels and bridges along the railway line on the border between Azerbaijan and Tbilisi have been restored, Poti port has been modernized with the financial support of the EU. In 2019, the US Foreign Private Investment Corporation signed a US$ 50 million loan agreement with the Georgian-American transport company PACE Group for the design, construction and operation of a new multi-purpose marine terminal at the Port of Poti. With financial support from the WB, the Asian Development Bank, the AIIB and other multilateral development banks (MDBs), Georgia has begun expanding the East-West Highway [Лексютина 2022, С. 67].

In January 2017, China Energy Company Limited (now CEFC China) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to purchase a 75% stake in the Poti Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) in Georgia. The 300-hectare FIZ opened in 2011, housing companies ranging from timber to IT services. CEFC committed to developing FIZ with its expertise and technology and investing in processing, modern technology, warehouse management and logistics [Larsen 2017]. The port of Poti in Georgia is also of interest to China. CEFC China Energy Concern, which specializes in the energy sector and whose founder, according to some reports, maintains close ties with the People's Liberation Army (PLA), owns a 75% stake in the Poti FIZ acquired in September 2017. Caught at the center of an international corruption scandal, the CEFC has been under the administration of the financial arm of the Shanghai Municipality since March 2018. Under its influence, the port of Poti should become a "common market zone" serving as a financial and logistics hub, as well as a platform for the export of Chinese goods to Europe and CA [Роллан 2018, С. 15].

During the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum in October 2015 the Georgian Anaklia deep-water port development project was considered as one of the first and major projects to be implemented within the BRI [Caucasus Business Week 2017]. However, the victory was claimed by the joint US-Georgian venture Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC). In February 2016, a Georgian-American consortium developed a €3.3 billion project to develop the one-of-a-kind deep sea port of Anaklia (with a `total` capacity of 100 million tons per year and with the ability to receive large sea vessels) on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, which connects Europe with CA and China through a sea corridor [New Europe 2016]. At the end of 2017, Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC - Chinese company that provides 70% of the world's port crane production) signed an agreement with the Anaklia Development Consortium, according to which ZPMC (as a subcontractor of ADC) would provide the port of Anaklia with the latest container cranes of modern standards and other equipment necessary for the management of the container terminal [Sputnik 2017]. However, in January 2020, after a series of scandals and revelations, the Georgian government terminated the contract with ADC for the development of the port of Anaklia and began looking for new investors [Лексютина 2022, С. 67].

As of 2015, up to 25 Chinese investment, construction, telecommunications and financial companies operated in Georgia [Мачавариани 2015, С. 146]. In order to intensify business ties and humanitarian contacts between the two countries, since June 2011, direct flights between China and Georgia began to operate [Мачавариани 2015, С. 148]. As of 2017, nearly 30 Chinese enterprises, including Fortune 500 companies, such as China State Grid, Power China, CRCC, Huawei, CEFC and other Chinese companies like Hualing Group have invested in Georgia. They are engaged in different sectors, such as energy, communication, finance, trade, agriculture, tourism, timber industry, infrastructure, special economic zone and industrial park, as well as other key areas [Embassy of the PRC in Georgia 2017].9

As for Armenia, despite its landlocked and vulnerable position in terms of participation in many regional logistics and energy projects, because only two of the four neighboring countries - Georgia and Iran - have an open border, Beijing considers the Armenian direction a connecting link between EEU and Tehran [Маркедонов 2019] through highway and railway lines connecting the Caspian Sea with the Black Sea [Harutyunyan 2017, P. 36-37; Harutyunyan 2018, P. 21-26]. Yerevan hoped that its major highway - the North-South Road Corridor and the future Armenia-Iran railway can be used for developing the proposed EBSR [Ghazanchyan 2015; MFA of PRC 2015]. Chinese companies are contractors on some of the activities on the north-south corridor improvement [The World Bank Group 2020c, P. 13].

In order to ensure the "interconnection" between these projects, it is first necessary to expand and modernize the network of national highways to Georgia in the north and Iran in the south [Мокрецкий 2016, C. 153], as well as using Yerevan's membership of the EEU, to activate the FTZ activity established in Meghri (south of Armenia) on the joint border with Iran [Воробьева 2020, С. 662].

Furthermore, the signing in March 2021 of an agreement on the "Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership" between Iran and China for the next 25 years creates certain opportunities for Armenia [Harutyunyan 2021, P. 217].9 Furthermore, the geographical position of Armenia is favorable in terms of participation in the B&R due to Armenia's distance from the potential risk zones of the ME - Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq, etc. In this regard, Beijing is ready to invest in the construction of roads and railways in Armenia [Воробьева 2020, С. 656]. Worth to note, that India is also interested in the transit opportunities of Armenia, whose ambassador to Iran announced in March 2021 that New Delhi plans to connect the western part of Chabahar, the Indian Ocean with Eurasia and Helsinki through Armenia, creating a North-South corridor [Варданян 2021].