The FINANCIAL — Upon the completion of Georgian and Kazakhstan officials which was held at the hotel Tbilisi Marriot the Vice Prime Minister of Georgia, Dimitry Kumsishvili and the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Bakytzhan Sagintayev gave comments to the media representatives, according to Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia.
Bakytzhan Sagintayev noted that a number of issues were discussed during the bilateral meeting. “Trans-Caspian International Transport Route is one of the main issues discussed by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Our railway officials agreed upon establishing the consortium which will provide cargo shipping from China ports to Batumi and trough Turkey to Europe. It is a very beneficial route and we all are more than interested in establishing of that consortium,” – Kazakh Vice Prime Minister stated.
Bakytzhan Sagintayev confirmed that Kazakhstan has no intention to stand down its assets in Batumi Port or in Batumi Oil Terminal since these issues are closely related to Trans-Caspian Transport Route. “We want our assets to be safe from any risks. As you know there is a dispute over the KAZTRANSGAS-Tbilisi where we have no control over the assets for 6-7 years. This is a trail case, manager assigned by the Court is in charge there, the process is in progress for many years and we have no access over those assets in which we invested more than 142 million USD. If we are sure that those assets are safe, we shall continue working in this direction. Our Georgian partners, Vice President assured us that Georgian Government shall protect those assets since they have no other interest but Kazakhstan to stay in this business as an investor,” – Bakytzhan Sagintayev stated.
According to Dimitry Kumsishvili, the fact that Kazakhstan has no intention to leave assets in Batumi Port as well as Terminal was one of the most important issues discussed during the meeting. “Kazakhstan plans to invest in technical improvement in Batumi Port as well as in Batumi Oil Terminal. However, we clearly stated our desire to see cargo for Kazakhstan passing by through this route and we wish to attract as much Kazakh cargo to go through this corridor as possible,” – Dimitry Kumsishvili stated.
Vice Prime Minister confirmed that issues related to KAZTRANSGAS-Tbilisi also were discussed during the meeting. “Our colleague offered to send another working group to study the information concerning the company in-situ and then Kazakhstan shall make the final decision. During the conversation, we confirmed our desire to have the Kazakh management back to the company. We also stated that the Company needs investments and Kazakh partners should have known that such a big company that fully supplies our capital city would need certain investment,” – Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development stated.
Kazakhstan Government officials led by the First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Bakytzhan Sagintayev arrived in Georgia on February 16, 2016. Bakytzhan Sagintayev and Dimitry Kumsishvili visited the Customs Clearance Zone in Adlia, Sarpi Customs Crossing Point, Batumi Port and Batumi Oil Terminal. Bilateral meeting were held as well. Kazakh delegation left Georgia on February 17.
