SEVERAL HUNDREDS OF CARRIAGES STILL ON GEORGIAN-AZERBAIJANI BOUNDARY

TBILISI, FEBRUARY 2. ARMINFO-BLACK SEA PRESS. Despite the statements
of a number of Georgian state structures that the problem with
blockade of carriages in the Georgian-Azerbaijani was solved long ago,
Head of the Union of Producers, Importers and Consumers of Oil
Products of Georgia Vano Mtvralashvili says that hundreds of carriages
are still on the boundary. In particular, on Jan 30 some 500 carriages
with wheat, liquefied gas and diesel were blocked on the boundary.

He says that the carriages were to be sent back to the point of
dispatch, but later another decision was made to leave them on the
boundary until the investigation carried out by the Azerbaijani party
is over. As a result, importers suffer serious financial losses, as
they pay for lease of carriages daily. After all, the cargoes of
several of them are blocked on the boundary for already two
months. Mtvralashvili says that the problem can be finally solved
through negotiations at a high political level with participation of
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Since the beginning of November 2004, the Azerbaijani party started
detaining the trains from Azerbaijan to Georgia on the station
Beyuk-Kyasik being concerned for the fact that a number of cargoes
could occur in Armenia. It would contradict to the international
agreement between Azerbaijan and Georgia in the summer of 2004 banning
transit of cargoes of a third country to the prejudice of Azerbaijan
and Georgia. In November only the cargoes of Azerbaijani production,
including crude oil, petrol and diesel arrived in Georgia without
limitations. The officers of the Azerbaijani Customs Committee began
examining the documents related to the destination of each
carriage. In case of any doubts related to the destination, the
Azerbaijani party carried out investigation.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress