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Weekly actual topics in Azerbaijan (July 11-15)

Analysis Materials 18 July 2016 16:22 (UTC +04:00)

Iran-Azerbaijan co-op in oil industry maintenance to yield great mutual profit

There are great opportunities for cooperation between Iran and Azerbaijan in oil industry maintenance that if tapped, both countries would enjoy great benefits, Director of Maintenance and Repair at Iran's Ministry of Petroleum Ali Reza Asl-Arabi believes.

Azerbaijan will reap a lot of benefits if it uses Iranian expertise for maintaining its oil facilities.

“Both in small daily maintenance tasks and periodical repair and maintenance projects, Azerbaijan has been mostly using the services of European and American companies, which entails spending large sums of money due to geographical distance, the use of Western currencies, and other factors,” he noted.

“This is while there are 30 to 35 large companies for maintenance services in Iran. The Iranian oil industry enjoys a history of 110 years. There are many veteran experts who can act as easy-to-access elite leaders and there is also the young cheap workforce that can be mobilized swiftly,” the official went on to say.

Asl-Arabi said there is also benefit in cooperation for Iranian companies.

“This [cooperation] could act as a starting point for Iranian companies to enter international markets and since Azerbaijani companies are mostly using Western advisors the Iranian companies could get a chance to add to their expertise and prestige,” he stated.

Azerbaijan makes changes to import of goods for personal use

Individuals will be able to import only 30 kilograms of various food products per month into the territory of Azerbaijan without paying customs duties, the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee said.

According to the committee, the corresponding changes have been made to the "Procedure of privileged and simplified movement of goods, which are not intended for production or commercial purposes, by physical entities through the customs border".

The changes will come into force 30 days after publication, i.e. August 11, 2016, the committee said.

Currently, physical entities are allowed to transport up to 10 kilograms of various food products daily without paying customs duties, the committee said.

According to the committee, other changes include the export of caviar and fish from the territory of Azerbaijan. So, without paying the customs duties, the physical entities once a month will be able to transport up to five kilograms of sturgeon and up to 125 grams of sturgeon caviar through the customs border.

At present, the volumes of export of fish and caviar from Azerbaijan are not clearly indicated in the customs regulations, the committee said.

According to the committee, at present, physical entities can import no more than 20 grams of gold and gold jewelry or household goods, as well as no more than 0.5 carat of processed, sorted, faceted and fixed diamonds with a total cost of no more than $1,500 (an additional amount of $500 per each accompanying person under 18) into the territory of Azerbaijan without paying customs duties.

According to the changes, such volumes can be transported no more than once a month, the committee said.

According to the committee, in general, physical entities once a month will be able to import goods with a total cost of $1,500 (an additional amount of $500 per each accompanying person under 18) into the territory of Azerbaijan without paying customs duties and taxes.

According to the committee, the economic analysis shows that while registering the goods by using certain people, physical entities have been recently trying to transport those goods through the border by indicating that those goods are not intended for production or commercial purposes, which results in tax evasion and smuggling.

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