BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 5. Hungary and Azerbaijan are at an early stage of preparation of an agreement in customs sphere, Deputy Head of the International Relations Department of the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration Zsuzsa Kecskes said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"There is an agreement between the two customs administrations on the customs cooperation, but it is currently in an early stage of preparation. The main objective of the planned agreement is to develop and strengthen cooperation between the customs administrations to prevent, investigate and repress customs offences which harm the economic, fiscal, social, cultural and commercial interests of their countries. We are convinced that close cooperation and quick response of the customs administrations would make the fight against customs fraud more efficient. Last but not least it is also worth emphasizing the importance of developing and strengthening the cooperation between the two customs administrations by mutual exchange of knowledge, experience and best practices in the field of fight against customs offences," she said.
Kecskes also talked about the expected visit of Hungarian tax and customs administration representatives to Azerbaijan this year.
"Last year, unfortunately, we were unable to accept the kind invitation of Shahin Baghirov, Chairman of the State Customs Committee due to our commitments related to the Hungarian EU Presidency but later this year we will definitely pay a visit to the Republic of Azerbaijan to have a high-level bilateral meeting," she said.
Kecskes pointed out that the primary objective of the visit is to review the bilateral cooperation, evaluate the past activities as well as to discuss key issues regarding the future cooperation.
Follow the author on X: @Lyaman_Zeyn