Delegations from Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Georgia met in Azerbaijan’s Göygöl region to accelerate customs procedures along the Middle Corridor and make border crossings more efficient.
The 5th Meeting of the Trilateral Committee on customs matters between the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye was attended by delegations led by Shahin Bagirov, chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan; Sezai Uçarmak, Türkiye’s deputy minister of trade; and Mamuka Baratashvili, Georgia’s deputy minister of finance and head of the Revenue Service.
Transit procedures on the Middle Corridor were on the agenda
The current state of cooperation between the customs administrations of the three countries and opportunities to improve it formed the main agenda of the meeting. The implementation of agreements reached at previous meetings was reviewed, and steps to be taken in the next phase were also determined.
The participants assessed measures to improve customs procedures along the Middle Corridor, accelerate transit operations, expand electronic data exchange and make border crossings more efficient.
Other topics discussed included facilitating transit operations on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line, risk management, improving the exchange of advance electronic data and strengthening cooperation in combating customs violations.
At the end of the meeting, the parties signed a protocol containing the agreements reached.
Türkiye-Azerbaijan customs committee also met
As part of the program, the 6th Meeting of the Joint Committee on Customs Matters between the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan and Türkiye’s Ministry of Trade was also held.
The bilateral meeting addressed the implementation of the New Computerized Transit System, the facilitation of customs procedures, the development of TIR and e-TIR mechanisms, the acceleration of border crossings and increasing the crossing capacity for freight vehicles.
The meeting also addressed expanding the exchange of information on various customs-related issues, combating customs violations, the authorized economic operator program, reciprocal customs statistics and the examination of good practices in risk management.
The meeting, which assessed opportunities for organizing joint operations and training programs, concluded with the signing of a protocol reflecting the issues discussed and the agreements reached.
