Deputy FM: Azerbaijan, Georgia need to intensify talks on border delimitation
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
Azerbaijan and Georgia need to increase the dynamics of negotiations on the delimitation of borders and complete them as soon as possible, Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov told reporters on December 12.
He noted that negotiations continue, but in the past there was some delay related to the change of personnel from the Georgian side.
“A new deputy foreign minister of Georgia has been appointed and this issue has been assigned to this person,” Khalafov said. “I think that from the beginning of the new year, we will hold discussions in working order, and then meetings of working groups. Probably, in the first quarter of 2019, we will be able to hold the next commission meeting.”
The border between Azerbaijan and Georgia is 480 kilometers. The state commissions of the two countries agreed on a major part of the border line. Up to 70 percent of the state border line has already been agreed upon, according to various sources.
From the Azerbaijani side, Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov is the chairman of the state commission on the delimitation and demarcation of the state border with Georgia.
Azerbaijan today is the most important neighbor and partner of Georgia. Georgia is connected with this country by many energy and transport projects, as several key east-west pipelines and a railway from Azerbaijan passes through Georgia. But despite that, the two countries have not agreed on the delimitation of the border between them or its demarcation, even 27 years after recovering their independence.
Azerbaijan and Georgia established diplomatic relations in 1992, one year after gaining independence from the Soviet Union. In October 1997, Azerbaijan and Georgia became two of the four founding members of GUAM, an organization that also includes Ukraine and Moldova.
Georgia closely cooperates with Azerbaijan on political and security issues, strategic cooperation between the two countries is developing steadily.
The two countries, in partnership with other regional countries, also collaborated closely within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on issues that had importance for the independence and security of both countries.
The countries also cooperate within the framework of the European Union’s Eastern Partnership and NATO’s Partnership for Peace program contributing to the harmonization of security interests and the development of common approaches of the two countries to various issues of strategic importance.
Azerbaijan and Georgia broadly cooperate in regional energy development, transportation and economic partnership projects such as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (BTC), Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway (BTK), the TRACECA, and the BSEC.
Azerbaijan mainly exports petroleum, petroleum oils and gases, gypsum, anhydrite, plaster and other products to Georgia, while motor cars live bovine animals, bars and rods of iron, as well as cement, make up the majority of imported goods from Georgia to Azerbaijan. Moreover, Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is deeply involved in the energy market in the neighboring South Caucasus republic.
According to statistical data, Azerbaijan is one of the five major trading partners of Georgia. From January to July, the foreign trade turnover between Georgia and Azerbaijan amounted to more than $ 584 million.
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