Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the start-up of the largest European energy infrastructure project, involving: Shah Deniz Phase Two of field development and three dedicated pipelines to connect that Azerbaijani gas field with European Union territory. The... MORE

A number of important events in Azerbaijan punctuated the past 12 months, and their implications are likely to affect the future development of the country in important ways. Notably, the year 2013 was highlighted by a presidential election, held on October 9, which was swept... MORE

Full-scale investment approved at Shah Deniz, and supply contracts secured in Europe, make it possible for pipeline construction to proceed along the 3,500-kilometer Southern Gas Corridor, from Azerbaijan to European Union territory in Italy. The cumulative investments are estimated at $25 billion in the offshore... MORE

On December 11, 2013, Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Azerbaijan, Amangeldy Zhumabaev, told a press conference that his country was interested in transporting its goods along the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway currently under construction—particularly for transporting Kazakhstani oil and grain(Tengrinews, December 11, 2013).Zhumabaev said, “For us it is very... MORE

The Shah Deniz gas producers’ consortium has approved the final investment decision (FID) on December 17, 2013, launching Phase Two of production at the project in Azerbaijan (see accompanying article). This decision has two immediate consequences, both of them pre-programmed. It validates the long-term gas... MORE

On December 17, 2013, in Baku, the Shah Deniz natural gas producers’ consortium approved the Final Investment Decision (FID) to start Phase Two of production. The investment commitment is valued at $25 billion for field development, separately from the estimated $20 billion for the construction... MORE

Georgia had a difficult year in 2013 by any standards. The conflict-ridden period of co-habitation between President Mikhail Saakashvili and Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili lasted until October 2013 and fundamentally destabilized the country’s fragile political and economic system. Co-habitation ended as Georgia elected Giorgi Margvelashvili... MORE

On December 18, 2013, the prosecution filed charges in a new case against Tbilisi mayor Gigi Ugulava, the last major holdout official from the opposition United National Movement (UNM). The prosecution now alleges, in essence, that Ugulava had misappropriated 48 million lari (some $25 million)... MORE

Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili, in office since November 2013, has heralded a resurgence in politically-motivated prosecutions against officials of the previous government and current opposition party, the United National Movement (UNM) (see EDM, November 22, 2013; January 7, 2014). Recent developments in several high-profile... MORE

Georgia’s Prosecutor-in-Chief Otar Partskhaladze had to resign on December 30, 2013, following disclosures that, in 2001–2002, he had served a sentence of one year and three months in a prison in Augsburg, Germany, for robbery and resisting the German police (Rezonansi cited by Interpressnews, December... MORE