In its struggle for influence in Southern Caucasus, USA stakes on investments

The development of economic ties with countries of Southern Caucasus will allow the USA to restore is lost political influence in the region, the participants in the discussion organized by the "Foreign Policy" magazine in Tbilisi have stated.

On December 8, the "Foreign Policy" American magazine held an online dialogue on the topic of US relations with the South-Caucasian states entitled "FP Virtual Dialogue: Great-Power Plays in Southern Caucasus".

The key discussion topic was the strengthening of US economic ties with Georgia in particular and the South-Caucasian region in general.

Levan Avalishvili, who represented the AGECF, has noted that the investment inflow depends on the regional security issue. In his opinion, amid the declining interest in Georgia and Southern Caucasus as a whole, the Fund plans to "explain to Washington" the need for an active policy not only in Southern Caucasus, but in Central Asia as well.

"We believe that now is a very good time to attract American investments within large-scale projects," Mr Avalishvili told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, who attended the event in Tbilisi.

The decrease in American companies' interest in Southern Caucasus was also stated by Mamuka Bakhtadze, a former Prime Minister of Georgia and now the chairman of the board of directors of the AGECF, who referred to "statistical data."

He believes that the "transformation of the region" is possible with the inflow of American investments into technologies and innovations, and the interest of big businesses therein; and there are potentials for this.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 9, 2021 at 04:45 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.