Japan has earmarked 220 billion yen of its coronavirus stimulus relief to go toward helping its manufacturing companies move their production plants out of communist China and back to Japan or to other countries.

As the founder of Anaklia Development Consortium, leader of the political union Lelo for Georgia, Mamuka Khazaradze said, “this is a new window of opportunity to attract serious investments to Georgia. “A concrete example is the port of Anaklia and the free economic zone in Anaklia,” he added.

Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe said getting foreign investment into Georgia from other countries would have a positive impact on the security situation in Georgia almost immediately.

“These countries would want to know their investment was safe and so they would be more likely to push back on Russian attempts at disinformation, economic and military pressure on Georgia, and Russian interference with Georgia’s economic growth,” he added.

As Lt. Gen. Hodges told the Accent, “attracting potential investment will require Georgia to get serious about the creation of a deep Sea port in Anaklia. So that it can become a portal between Europe and Eurasia and grow into the major logistics hub in the region. Only when the Government of Georgia demonstrates about doing this will investors come forward.”

“The creation of real trade corridor from Eurasia thru Georgia and across the Black Sea to Odessa, Constanta, and through the Turkish straits will dramatically change the economic dynamic of the greater Black Sea region and increase pressure on Russia to respect sovereignty and freedom of navigation on the Black Sea. They have done neither for the last several years. And they also don’t want competition for their own ports. And that’s why the Kremlin is working to ensure the Anaklia port project never comes to fruition,” Lt. Gen. Hodges said.