White & Case secures second total victory for Georgia in Anaklia Port project dispute

Global law firm White & Case LLP has secured a second total victory for Georgia in the long-running dispute concerning the Anaklia Port project.

An ICSID tribunal chaired by Bernard Hanotiau and including Klaus Sachs and Charles Poncet as co-arbitrators issued an award unanimously on July 30, 2025, dismissing all claims brought by Dutch businessman Bob Meijer against Georgia under the Georgia-Netherlands BIT.

The dispute centered on Mr Meijer's 6.06% indirect shareholding in the Anaklia Development Consortium (ADC) and Anaklia City JSC, with claims related to Georgia’s termination of the investment agreement for the Anaklia Port project and alleged treaty breaches concerning a planned free industrial zone, seeking nearly US$70 million in compensation.

In its award, the ICSID tribunal unanimously dismissed Mr Meijer’s claims in their entirety. The tribunal agreed with Georgia that Mr Meijer's investment in Anaklia City JSC did not constitute a protected investment under the BIT and the ICSID Convention, as Anaklia City JSC had not secured the right to develop a free industrial zone adjacent to the Anaklia Port.

The tribunal also found that Georgia did not breach any of its treaty obligations related to Mr Meijer's investment in the Anaklia Port project. Specifically, the tribunal ruled that Georgia was within its rights to terminate the investment agreement due to ADC's failure to secure financing for the project and was not responsible for ADC's contractual failures. The tribunal awarded Georgia all of its fees and arbitration costs in the ICSID arbitration, amounting to US$6.5 million.

This ICSID award follows a similar victory on July 30, 2024, when an ICC tribunal dismissed, by majority, all of ADC's claims under the investment agreement governed by Georgian law. While the ICSID tribunal did not grant binding effect to the ICC award under the doctrine of collateral estoppel, it noted that 'in the absence of compelling circumstances to the contrary, investment treaty tribunals have elected to give deference to the findings of prior commercial awards' and made findings entirely consistent with the ICC tribunal.

The White & Case team in Paris representing Georgia was led by partners Charles Nairac, John Willems and Noor Davies and included counsel Bachir Sayegh and associates Yutty Ramen, Ece Akıncıbay, Yasmine El Achkar, Élise Roussel and Konstantine Kopaliani.

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