Georgia eyes China's One Belt One Road to break dependence on Russia

Interesting article from emerging markets publication bne IntelliNews on Georgia – the Black Sea country not the US state – and its part in China’s one belt one road (OBOR) project, which seems to comprise several belts and several roads. Georgia counts China as its third-largest trading partner, behind Turkey and Azerbaijan, and ahead of Russia, as part of a long-term plan to pivot its economy away from its huge neighbour. The main infrastructure investment in the country has been the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, connecting it with Azerbaijan and Turkey, which could significantly speed up the delivery of Asian export containers. But it would appear there are still substantial bureaucratic hurdles to overcome. “China has been testing the South Caucasus route since the announcement of the OBOR initiative in 2013. For example, in 2015 the connection efficacy between the Xinjiang province of China to the port of Poti in Georgia, via Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, was tested. Railway cargo loaded in China on 29 January arrived in Georgia on 6th of February. However, almost a third of the time in transit was spent handling administrative obstacles.”