Pilot customs practice to be launched between Russia,Turkey
Posted by meb at February 19th, 2009
Customs authorities will implement a joint pilot program at Turkey’s Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports and Russia’s Minokova airport that would assist in the freer movement of goods to Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Hayati Yazici said on Thursday.
Problems with customs transactions between the two countries have existed for almost a year and officials from both countries carried out intense studies in order to put an end to the ongoing conflict, Yazici said at a press conference.
Referring to the customs protocol signed between the parties in September 2008, Yazici said, “Pursuant to such protocol, a memorandum of understanding covering technical issues has been signed. According to this memorandum, a pilot implementation will be initiated in Ataturk and Sabiha Gokcen airports of Turkey and Minokova airport of Russia,” the Anatolian Agency reported.
He also said that the pilot customs program would later be extended to other locations and Turkish and Russian technical delegations would hold talks at customs points and ports in each other’s countries.
“I hope the technical studies will be carried out rapidly. Once this pilot implementation is brought to life, it will be carried out in all points of land, sea and air transportation and it will cover all kinds of products in the upcoming phases,” he said.
Turkey and Russia signed a protocol in September to resolve a row over protracted procedures at Russian customs that have hampered Turkish exports.
The protocol, envisaged a Simplified Customs Line — a procedure that would speed up the passage of Turkish goods through Russian customs, which would be applied to companies who voluntarily agree to send to Russian authorities export information of their shipments in advance.
Turkey and Russia had nearly $40 billion of trade volume in 2008. As of 2008, Turkish investments in Russia stand at around $5 billion, while Turkish contractors have undertaken Russian construction projects worth over $25 billion.
source: Hurriyet daily news
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