Center for International Studies

  The South Caucasus Regional Security Scenarios Development   By Professor Vakhtang Maisaia   Historically, the South Caucasus has been playing a significant role for establishing and developing the economic relations between Europe and Asia. After the trilateral agreement amongst Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, which led to a complete ceasefire and a cessation of all hostilities on November 10 th of 2020, new geo-economic opportunities have been established in the South Caucasus region. Thanks to the trilateral agreement, the normalization of the relations between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia and the potential for economic cooperation has emerged in the region. Hence, developments throughout the past two years show that there is a mutual interest in all South Caucasus countries for further establishing and expanding the trade and economic cooperation across border lines through establishing new opportunities. Therefore, it is suggested to promote the regional socioeconom

  The price of status - what economic and political benefits will the EU candidate country status of Georgia bring? Nika Chitadze  Professor of the International Black Sea University Director of the Center for International Studies President of the George C. Marshall Alumni Union, Georgia - International and Security Research Center  The decision of the European Council regarding granting Georgia the status of a candidate for EU membership will significantly contribute to the process of Georgia's integration into European structures. In this case, it should be noted that the following factors should be noted as to the benefits of the EU candidate country status.   Countries with candidate status (in the case of potential candidate status, the scope is limited) have access to the funds of the pre-accession financial instrument (IPA III-2021-2027), which includes 14 billion euros and 5 thematic areas:   - Institutional and administrative - Capacity building (candidate and p

  Historic and Geopolitical Features of the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative   Author: Lukasz Repucha   In 2013, China announced its global infrastructure development strategy, also known as The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) or One Belt One Road (OBOR). It is a set of gigantic infrastructure projects intended to cover the Eurasian continent with a network of economic, energy, transport and other connections. Initially, the strategy consisted of six main specific corridors. The New Eurasian Land Bridge between China and Europe, The China-Mongolia-Russia Corridor between China and Eastern Russia via Mongolia, The China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor between China and Turkey, The China-Indochina Peninsula Corridor from southern China to Singapore, The ChinaPakistan Corridor from Kashgar through Pakistan to ports in Karachi and Gwadar, and The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Corridor which connects China with those countries. The project evolved over time, attracting the interes