Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

Azerbaijan's State Customs Committee continues managing the workload at the existing customs checkpoints, Chairman Aydin Aliyev told the Baku-based Trend news agency on September 24.

"For example, the main customs checkpoint on the border with the Russian Federation is the Samur checkpoint," he said. "The bridge through the Samur river at this section is in unsatisfactory condition, which regularly leads to delays and loss for entrepreneurs and citizens. Queues line up as a result, which is a particularly topical matter with the start of the academic year. Therefore, we are negotiating with our colleagues both about the construction of a new bridge and about stepping up the activity of the other existing checkpoints."

A decision regarding the bridge has already been made.

According to Aliyev, the committee is involved in similar activity with all neighboring countries.

"In general, the strategy of the State Customs Committee outlines the need to regularly hold talks with counterparts from borderline countries," he said. "We hold meetings with customs officers of the Russian Federation, Iran, Georgia and Turkey to discuss the current problems and look for ways to solve them."

In July 2013, the ministries of transport of Azerbaijan and Russia signed a protocol on the reconstruction of the existing bridge and construction of a new bridge across the Samur River.

Azerbaijan shares land borders with Georgia, Armenia, Iran, Russia and Turkey, and maritime borders with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran.

Touching on the transfers to the state budget, Aliyev said that Azerbaijani customs have exceeded forecasts for budget contributions.

"As is known, the forecast for contributions to the state budget for customs bodies for this year is 1.38 billion manats," he said. "Around 887.88 million manats have been transferred to the budget over the past eight months, or 2 million manats more than the planned amount worth 885.55 million manats in January-August 2013."

According to Aliyev, this is grounds for the committee to be optimistic about the future.

"Ahead of us are the fall and winter, which are characterized by an increase in import volumes. Therefore, we are sure that the forecast for the current year will be fulfilled."

Aliyev said that reduction of customs duties in Azerbaijan is not expected in the near future.

"The forecast for customs duties for next year is set at 1.51 billion manats, which is 130 million manats more than the projected figures for 2013. Therefore, the issues of tariff reduction and introduction of various discounts are not being discussed," he said.

Currently, tariffs in Azerbaijan are regulated by a law passed in 1995.

A customs tariff is a set of duties applied to goods transferred through the customs border of Azerbaijan. There are the rates of 0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 percent in the country.

The official exchange rate for September 24 is 0.7844 AZN/USD.