Azerbaijan, Russia to simplify produce supply
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan and Russia are discussing smooth transport of
agricultural produce through the Green Corridor, Aydin Aliyev,
Chairman of Azerbaijan’s State Customs Committee said on February
4.
He made the remarks at a meeting with the Head of Russia’s Federal
Customs Service Andrey Belyaninov in Baku.
“I hope we will soon sign a document, creating conditions for an smooth passage of agricultural produce through the Green Corridor,” Aliyev said. “Here the matter is perishable and the processed produce, except for excisable goods.”
He further noted that the mentioned document has already been approved, adding that Russia is one of the main economic partners of Azerbaijan.
“The customs services of Azerbaijan and Russia have a long history. We always represent the interests of the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as each other in international organizations,” he said.
For his part, Belyaninov highlighted the dynamic development of
Azerbaijan’s customs service, especially in the sphere of
information technology.
Noting that Russia pays attention to regional development with
Azerbaijan, he shared the concern of the Azerbaijani side over the
level of development of border infrastructure.
Belyaninov said this prevents the development of trade turnover
between the countries.
“Russia is interested in expanding trade turnover with Azerbaijan
in all directions, and we especially pay attention to supplies of
perishable goods from Azerbaijan, as they are relatively
inexpensive, have very high quality and are quickly delivered to
the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said.
A protocol was signed following the working meeting.
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Russia in 2014 stood at $1.96 billion, of which some $1.3 billion accounted for imports from Russia to Azerbaijan, while $640.3 million accounted for the exports to Russia, according to the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee.
Delicious, high-quality and organic agricultural products of Azerbaijan have always enjoyed significant demand in the Russian market.
Azerbaijani products have gained a chance to enter a larger market following the recent western sanctions on Russia over Ukraine crisis in late 2014.
Russia decided to put an embargo on import of agricultural produce and food from Poland, the U.S., EU, Canada, Australia, and Norway after the U.S. and the European Union imposed sanctions against Russia over Ukraine crisis.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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