BAKU, July 19 (Xinhua) -- A meeting between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey was held here Wednesday, with the adoption of a final declaration by the three sides to expand cooperation in customs affairs.
The meeting was attended by Chairman of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Aydin Aliyev, First Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia Dimitry Kumsishvili, Minister of Customs and Trade of Turkey Bulent Tufenkci, and representatives of the three countries' border agencies and embassies.
Within the framework of the meeting, a joint declaration will be signed by the participants to promote their relations in customs structures, cargo transportation, service modernization, and information exchange.
Tufenkci said that "by taking some measures at customs checkpoints, we will be able to simplify mutual trade" between the three countries, to which he attached great importance.
The minister also emphasized that the corridor between Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey will help to ensure peace in the Caucasus, simplify trade with other countries and transport goods safely, adding that "we have already solved a number of problems in this regard."
Aliyev said that the three countries will "carry out large-scale activities to increase freight traffic and ensure energy security in the region."
For his part, Kumsishvili outlined the "strategic importance" of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project as well as other mutually beneficial regional ones.
Turkey and Georgia are Azerbaijan's main economic partners. In the first half of 2017, Azerbaijan's trade turnover amounted to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars with Turkey, and 270.35 million dollars with Georgia, according to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan.
