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assertiveness in the region for promoting regional and domestic economic growth at the same time.8
The project rationale and linkage to Georgia’s country strategy is that the Batumi Bypass road, which is a part of Georgia's East West Highway (EWH), connects the major trade route from the Georgia-Turkey border at Sarpi to Batumi and Poti (coastal cities with ports to the Black Sea), and reaches to the border with Azerbaijan. It has become a part of the CAREC program and accounts for 60% of the total foreign trade through the complete EWH, realizing the role of a regional “transport and logistic hub” which the Georgia government envisions itself to be.9
A presumption that would make sense is that countries that are CAREC partners would
demonstrate support in projects that fall under CAREC, the Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route (TITR), and the broader BRI, in multilateral institutions. Thus, China, who is deeply involved in those mechanisms, normally secures support from most small to mid-sized member states from Central and West Asia, and support from member states from the EU. There is also an alternative opinion to why the ADB, which is led by Japan and the US, also finances equal amounts in these projects compared to the AIIB. Take the USD2.5 billion Anaklia Black Sea Deep Water Port project for example, although the project is currently in “limbo” due to a failed agreement between the Anaklia Development Consortium and the Georgian government, the ADB and the AIIB were both among the four MDBs that pledged USD400 million commitment in total to the project. Researchers hold the opinion that due to the intricate geopolitical dynamic in the region, the ADB and the AIIB ‘are widely viewed as instruments in the U.S.-China and China-Japan geopolitical rivalries.’108 ibid.
9 Asian Development Bank. (2021, January 20). Batumi Bypass Road Project. https://www.adb.org/projects/50064-001/main#project-pds
10 See footnote 7
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Media has also been positioning Georgia as a central player in the power wrestling scene that includes major Western and Eastern powers, which has been facilitated by the BRI.11 The eagerness to expand deeper and wider relations with actors besides Russia and the West is a common sentiment and understanding among domestic Georgia and global public opinion.12 The co-financing of the AIIB and the ADB on the Anaklia Port project and the Batumi Bypass Road project are the significant examples that manifests the changes of the deepen China-Georgia relationship, though the Batumi Bypass Road project might represent a healthier example since it was progressed on track before COVID and is also running rather smoothly even under the impact of COVID.13 It is also the first ADB co-financed project with the AIIB in Georgia.
The prospering of the relationships between China and West Asia countries could also be reflected positively in the ADB through its voting mechanism since as mentioned above, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia each account for over 0.5% total voting share. Along with ADB’s non-regional members who are mostly from the EU, China, EU and West Asian members in the ADB hold over 29% of the total voting share, higher than the US and Japan combined.1415
This thesis went through the ADB annual reports from 2013-2019 to get a closer look at how loans to the Central and West Asia subregion fared over the years with Chinese officials
11 Miodrag Soric. (2017, December 26). China’s “New Silk Road” goes straight through the Caucasus. DW.COM.
https://www.dw.com/en/chinas-new-silk-road-goes-straight-through-the-caucasus/a-41930469
12 Benyamin Poghosyan. (2019, December 17). China’s OBOR initiative: Opportunities for the South Caucasus.
Emerging Europe. https://emerging-europe.com/voices/chinas-obor-initiative-opportunities-for-the-south-caucasus/
13 2020, May 8. At What Stage Is Construction of Batumi Bypass Road? Business Media Georgia.
https://bm.ge/en/article/at-what-stage-is-construction-of-batumi-bypass-road-/55940
14 Asian Development Bank. (2020, July 14). ADB Annual Report 2019. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2019.
15 This sentence appears to indicate that West Asian countries and EU countries are all voting allies with China in the ADB, and that with those allies’ voting share, they can override the US and Japan in decision-making. However, the author would like to reserve the opinion since it is not within the author’s capability to retrieve official voting records from the Bank for evidence.
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in charge of the department. In the years of 2015, 2016 and 2017, project approvals in Central and West Asia had been able to keep up with South Asia and SouthEast Asia. In 2016, while the total approvals of the ADB exceeds USD30,000 million, Central and West Asia accounts for over one-fourth of it. In the latest 2019 annual report, Central and West Asia and the Pacific are the only two subregions that have increased approvals that year. 16
Table 4. 1 World Bank’s Project Approvals to Central and West Asia for Fiscal 2013-2019
Top sectors throughout the years remain with energy, transport, and public management.
In 2017 while transport was the top sector taking up 39% of the total approvals, the annual report highlighted the Batumi Bypass Road Project as one of its “Key Moments” of the year.
Aside from the top sectors, another index worth noting is that the co-financing increased almost USD1 billion in 2016 compared to the previous year. 2016 was the year that the AIIB and the ADB first signed their MoU for Strengthening Cooperation between the two banks which set stage for the co-financed projects to come.
The annual reports also suggest the centrality of the CAREC program in the region to boost regional connectivity. In each year’s report, CAREC will be mentioned to serve as a
16 Asian Development Bank. (2014, April). ADB Annual Report 2013. annual-report-2013; Asian Development Bank. (2015, April). ADB Annual Report 2014. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2014; Asian Development Bank. (2016, April). ADB Annual Report 2015.
https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2015; Asian Development Bank. (2017, April). ADB Annual Report 2016. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2016; Asian Development Bank. (2018, April). ADB Annual Report 2017. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2017; Asian Development Bank. (2020, July 22). ADB Annual Report 2018. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2018; Asian Development Bank. (2020, July 14). ADB Annual Report 2019. https://www.adb.org/documents/adb-annual-report-2019
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bigger theme containing transportation projects. For example, the refined CAREC Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy 2020 was mentioned in the 2013 annual report to call for more road construction projects in accordance with highlighting the double-digit trade growth among CAREC member countries in a decade.17 The 2015 report mentioned that the CAREC Program will ‘enhance physical connectivity in all CAREC countries’ and that ‘ADB will expand transport corridors in the region and rehabilitate secondary roads, particularly in Georgia.’18 The 2019 annual report highlighted the 18th CAREC Ministerial Conference in Uzbekistan held in 2019, and voiced ADB’s support for the CAREC Strategy 2030 by facilitating more energy and transport projects.19 Since the CAREC strategy and the BRI are continuously seeking closer alignment, and the CAREC countries all voiced support to the strengthening of the two mechanisms’ collaboration,20 CAREC countries and stakeholders from outside the region could all be seen as allies for pushing the approvals of related projects that involve China’s interest in the ADB.