Problem with export from Azerbaijan to Russia to be fixed
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan’s agricultural exports, which are of great interest to Russia, faced obstacles on the border due to the introduction of fees on the federal highways of Russia for trucks weighing over 12 tons.
Abbas Aliyev, Spokesman for the Azerbaijani Economy and Industry Ministry, informed that Prime Minister of Dagestan Abdusamad Hamidov, commenting on the issue, said that problems with the export of Azerbaijani agricultural products to Russia are expected to be fixed in the near future.
“Economy and Industry Minister Shahin Mustafayev and Prime Minister of Dagestan Abdusamad Hamidov discussed solution to this problem,” said Aliyev. “Mr. Hamidov expressed his readiness to assist in solving the problem on the Azerbaijani-Russian customs checkpoint as soon as possible.”
Aliyev added that Azerbaijani delegation will leave for Dagestan to discuss the issue on the spot, on November 26. The aim of the visit is to ultimately solve the problem of the supply of agricultural products to Russia. The delegation will be headed by Deputy Economy and Industry Minister Sahib Mammadov.
Furthermore, a meeting of Azerbaijani and Russian customs officials will be held at customs checkpoint Samur of Khachmaz Customs Administration on November 26.
Earlier, the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee reported that the goods cross the Azerbaijani border without any problems, but there are obstacles in the delivery of goods to destinations, particularly in Moscow and its suburbs.
As a result, up to 200 loaded cars, supplying agricultural products from Azerbaijan are standing idle now at the Derbent station.
Fees for trucks weighing more than 12 tons entered into the force in Russia from November 15. Protests of truckers across the country started from November 11.
Later, Russia's Transportation Ministry has temporarily abolished fines for truck owners who avoid paying the newly introduced levy for driving trucks weighing more than 12 tons on federal highways. The penalty for the owners of such vehicles is asked to be reduced by nine times – up to 50,000 rubles.
High quality Azerbaijani products have been in demand in neighboring countries for quite some time; however, the country did not previously have the capacity to export these products in large quantities.
The share of Azerbaijani goods in Russia’s total import is 0.26 percent, while the figure is 2.2 percent among the imports from the CIS countries.
Today, based on the agreements reached in last summer, Azerbaijan has significantly increased the supply of agricultural products including fruits and vegetables to Russia.
Azerbaijan’s opportunities to export to Russian market can also rise from the next year, as Russia will ban importing Ukrainian food products from January 2016.
__
Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz