After Georgia was not invited to the Three Seas Initiative summit in Zagreb, where connectivity, infrastructure and energy security were discussed, official Tbilisi reacted sharply. Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili said Europe should “look at the map” and take into account the importance of Georgian ports and East-West routes.
Against this backdrop, Brussels continues to stress that Georgia’s EU candidate status exists largely on paper because the government is not implementing the bloc’s recommendations. At the same time, Tbilisi is intensifying contacts with Central Asia and Azerbaijan, emphasizing the country’s transit role.
Until recently, Hungary was seen as Georgian Dream’s main ally in Europe. Viktor Orban’s position, the article says, helped block EU sanctions against the Georgian leadership, including billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili. But after Orban’s electoral defeat, Tbilisi said it was ready to work with Hungary’s new authorities.
On April 7, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Tbilisi without prior public notice. His delegation included the foreign, economy and transport ministers. Talks focused on infrastructure projects and growing cargo flows across Georgian territory. Aliyev said Azerbaijan had invested $3.6 billion in Georgia’s economy and highlighted new projects.
Particular attention was drawn to Aliyev’s meeting with Ivanishvili at his private residence in Tbilisi. Although Ivanishvili holds no state office and is only the honorary chairman of the ruling party, he is widely regarded as the country’s real power broker. Commentators linked the meeting’s format to an effort to find out whether Georgia is ready to fit into a new regional configuration while maintaining ties with Europe.
This also concerns wider transport plans: Azerbaijan and Armenia are advancing the TRIPP project, while Georgia remains involved in oil and gas transit to Europe and in the Black Sea Energy project worth 3.5 billion euros, which предусматривает an undersea power cable across the Black Sea. After Aliyev’s trip, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister also visited Tbilisi.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that if Georgia joins the EU, Russia could halt air links, restore a strict visa regime and extend retaliatory economic measures to Georgia, including restrictions affecting wine, fruit and mineral water exports.
Political analysts cited by the publication say Aliyev’s visit was a signal that the South Caucasus is increasingly acting as an independent region, and that for Baku the key question is whether Georgia will remain part of shared transport and economic projects linked to Europe.