Azerbaijan Talks Reasons for Custom Delays at Border with Georgia

Chief of the Main Department for Activity Assessment and Development Programs of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, Igbal Babayev, said delays at the border with Georgia are related to the differing approaches in the work of customs authorities.

"Today, many people complain that while passing the border of Georgia with Azerbaijan, the delay on the Georgian side lasts for 5-10 minutes, and on the Azerbaijani side – for about an hour. The fact is that Georgia and Azerbaijan have different approaches to the work of customs authorities. In Georgia, the customs authorities are engaged in fiscal activities, while in Azerbaijan the customs authorities to a greater extent ensure the security of the country. Therefore, it takes more time," he said.

Babayev added that the Azerbaijani customs service provides only 13% of the total revenues to the state budget, while Georgian customs - more than 60%.

There are six customs border checkpoints between Azerbaijan and Georgia.

“In order to liquidate one customs journal entry, we sometimes have to appeal to four ministries, and this takes 3-4 months,” he noted. “Overnight, we liquidated 27 journal entries and 18 documents. Earlier, customs points could check 283,000 cars, but today this figure is 1.35 million cars. More than 60%of vehicles cross the border in 20 minutes, 19% of vehicles cross the border in 20-60 minutes and only 18% of vehicles are delayed at the border for over an hour.”