The first batch of 3,500 tonnes of methanol was exported to Turkey from Georgia's Black Sea port of Kulevi, which is managed by SOCAR.

Georgia has effectively abandoned its efforts to advance on the membership issue. True, the work on cooperation and various partnership packages, in itself important, continues. But the membership issue itself has been put on the back burner.

With over 90 percent of the vote counted, the 46-year-old journalist and writer’s Civil Contract party held an insurmountable lead of 54-21 percent over the “Armenia” bloc headed by 67-year-old ex-President Robert Kocharyan – a far more overwhelming result than expected.

There are enormous ramifications. There is a real chance no effective or, at best, a weak government could emerge. Though Azerbaijan got back most of its occupied territories, the formal delimitation of the border with Armenia would take a solid government in Yerevan with a mandate to do so. It might be impossible to put a finality to the 30-year war or open trade routes in the absence of one

Ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia – both dealing with the occupation of large tracts of territory by Russia or its proxies – likely came away disappointed if they had expected the summit to bring clarity to their strategic issues.

The plant's construction, originally planned to start the end of last year, was delayed after BP decided to withdraw from the petrochemical business globally, pulling out of the project.