Tbilisi, Georgia, March 17
By Nana Kirtzkhalia - Trend:
Georgia and Azerbaijan have signed an agreement on cooperation in the customs sphere.
The document was signed by head of the Revenue Service of Georgia's Finance Ministry, Irakli Gvaramadze and Chairman of the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee, Aydin Aliyev.
The signing ceremony took place in Tbilisi during the international conference of Europe's customs administrations.
"This is an important agreement which envisages mutual cooperation and information exchange. We signed a similar agreement with many states although among our close neighbours we haven't signed such an agreement, only with Azerbaijan," Gvaramadze told journalists after the signing ceremony.
It was earlier reported that Georgia and Azerbaijan are working out a single information system on customs checkpoints. An information exchange system was launched in early February for imports and exports at the Red Bridge customs checkpoint and from the Azerbaijani side, the Sinig Korpu customs checkpoint. A pilot project on the creation of a single customs post has also been launched.
If the pilot project is successful, a similar system will be launched in all customs points on the Azerbaijani-Georgian border.
There are six customs posts operating subordinate to the Balakan and Tovuz customs offices between Azerbaijan and Georgia, namely Sadikhli, Sinig Korpu, Jandargol, Mazimchay, Muganli automobile posts and the Boyuk Kasik railway.
Azerbaijan is Georgia's second largest trading partner after Turkey. The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to $1.35 billion in 2013 increasing by 7.14 percent in a year, according to GruzStat (National Statistical Service of Georgia). By comparison, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Georgia amounted to $1.26 billion in 2012.
Translated by L.Z.
Edited by S.M.