Advancing Silk Road project top priority for Georgia: Deputy PM

The development of the Silk Road project is among the top priorities for the Georgian government, Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili said here Tuesday.

Georgia was making great efforts to build more favorable infrastructure in the country as part of the Silk Road project, which includes a major highway and the port of Anaklia, said Kumsishvili, who is also the country's Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development.

"All these are part of the Silk Road endeavor, which will bring peace and prosperity to the region. We are convinced we will take a large number of goods through our corridor in the future. That direction is the top priority for us," Kumsishvili said at a local business event.

He also said that the negotiation of free trade between Georgia and China was going smoothly and a new round of talks would be held in early summer in Beijing, China.

In February, Georgia announced its plans to build a deep-water port in the town of Anaklia on the Black Sea in a 2.5-billion-U.S.-dollar project that aims to boost trade between China and Europe along the historic Silk Road route.

Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili reportedly said that the contract to build the port had been awarded to a joint venture made up of Georgia's TBC Holding and a U.S. company.

Mamuka Khazaradze, chairman of Georgia's TBC Holding, has said that the port project fits with the Belt and Road Initiative promoted by China. Endi