Azerbaijan, Georgia sign cargo transportation accord
By Ayya Lmahamad
The Azerbaijani Railways CJSC and the Georgian Railway JSC have signed a document on bilateral cooperation in the field of cargo transportation, the Azerbaijani Railways company reported on November 17.
Chairman of the Azerbaijani Railways Javid Gurbanov briefed participants in the meeting about current cooperation between the Azerbaijani and Georgia Railways, the transport and logistics capabilities of Azerbaijan, railway reforms and work to improve its efficiency.
Moreover, he talked about the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway communication, and the North-South and South-West transport corridors. In addition, he underlined that the strengthening of international routes is aimed at increasing the transit potential of the participating countries.
Touching upon the importance of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, he described the route as a global, shortest and most reliable way connecting Europe and Asia. He said that for this reason, interest in the route had increased after its commissioning.
In turn, Chairman of the Georgian Railway David Peradze stated that the launch of the railway is the greatest contribution to stability in the region strengthening ties between the two countries’ nations and the economic development. In addition, he noted that using the possibilities of this route, cargoes from China and Central Asia are transported through Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey and back.
Additionally, the parties exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation between the railroads of the two countries and discussed issues related to the cargo transportation and measures to improve the efficiency of operations.
It should be noted that the trade between the two countries amounted to $466.7 million in January-October 2020. Of total turnover, export amounted to $407.9 million, while import to $58.7 million.
Likewise, earlier it was reported that Azerbaijan accounts for 59.8 percent of Georgian oil bitumen imports in January-September 2020. In addition, Georgia accounted for 1.6 billion cubic meters of gas exports from Azerbaijan. The volume of Azerbaijan's oil and oil products exports to neighbouring Georgia increased by 30.3 percent during the reported period. Thus, Georgia imported 160,136 tonnes of oil and oil products worth $48.6 million from Azerbaijan. Moreover, Azerbaijan accounted for 19.7 percent of diesel fuel supplies to Georgia during the first nine months of the year.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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