Details of agreement on preliminary data exchange within BTK revealed

The Agreement between Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye on the preliminary data exchange to facilitate transit customs procedures within the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway line aims to facilitate the smooth and fast international transportation of goods by passing through the territories of the states and to reduce the time for cargo transportation, Tahir Mirkishili, chairman of the Economic Policy, Industry and Enterprising Committee of the Parliament, said at the plenary session of the Milli Majlis, Report informs.

"The essence of cooperation is to reduce the time spent on customs control, simplify the procedures by using primary electronic data exchange systems, pay special attention to goods that require fast transportation, carry out inspections based on risk analysis, recognize each other's customs seals, take joint measures at certain points, share X-ray images with each other. For this, the parties agree to develop technologies for information exchange within 6 months. It is planned to set up a tripartite cooperation commission to settle all issues. The depositary of the agreement is Türkiye. The agreement is concluded for an indefinite period, which means that all documents will be kept in Türkiye," he said.

The authorities responsible for implementing the agreement are the State Customs Committee in Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Trade in Türkiye, and the Department of Revenue in Georgia.

The BTK transported 432,284 tons of cargo in 2022 and 1,347,585 tons in 2017-2022.