ABSTRACT
Georgia faces a number of serious challenges in using the maritime domain. Georgia's maritime power has been adversely affected by the challenge of its post-communist transformation. Georgian foreign policy had begun to tilt decisively towards the west by the late 1990s. The desire for Euro, Atlantic integration had become a clear foreign policy goal after the Rose Revolution and the completion of the Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline in 2005 represents both a symbolic and a tangible manifestation of Georgia's commitment to the west. Georgia's maritime power has been limited and affected both quantitatively and qualitatively by the challenges of building the Georgian Armed Forces (GAF). The Georgian Strategic Defence Review, published in 2007, highlighted how the many years of under-investment and neglect of the navy had directly affected Georgia's maritime power. Georgia has important maritime security interests in the Black Sea.
