...

Azerbaijan considers Georgia's proposal on customs procedure simplification

Business Materials 25 April 2012 20:12 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 25 / Trend A. Akhundov /

Azerbaijan considers Georgia's proposal on the simplification of customs procedures on the joint border, chairman of the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee Aydin Aliyev told Trend on Wednesday.

Georgia plans to sign an agreement envisaging the simplification of customs procedures with Azerbaijan, head of the Georgian International Relations Department of the Customs Service Samson Uridia told Trend earlier.

"The essence of the agreement is that we want to determine the identical customs procedures that apply when leaving one country and entering another and help to reduce their number," Uridia said. "For example, first, goods are entered and then control is passed in Georgia and Azerbaijan while departing. In this case, some link may be cancelled in this chain. For example, the parties may agree to enter goods while departing and pass control while entering or vice versa."

Aliyev said that the State Committee has not received a formal proposal. However, the issue was raised by the Georgian side on the eve of a meeting with Georgian ambassador to Azerbaijan Teymuraz Sharashenidze. It was stressed that this practice is being tested within a pilot project on the Georgian-Turkish border.

"Similar action has been applied once in the world practice," Aliyev said. "It was on the Finnish-Russian border 20 years ago, when a pilot project lasted only a few hours and did not justify itself. We will wait for the results of the pilot project with Turkey and make a decision."

He added that the customs of the two countries successfully cooperate. In particular, Azerbaijani and Georgian customs officers are involved in joint trainings and exchanging experience.

Latest

Latest