"Single-Window System will Apply to Georgia-Azerbaijan-Kazakhstan Joint Venture''

Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan are considering the creation of a joint venture to develop road freight forwarding and the development of the Trans-Caspian International Route (TITR).

Levan Sulaberidze, chairman of the Transport and Logistics Committee of the Kazakh-Georgian Economic Union, told Business Partner that it was important to set up a joint company and that preparations had been underway for a long time, but developments in Ukraine had somewhat accelerated the process.

"The Georgian, Azerbaijani and Kazakh railways have been working in this direction for a long time and this idea appeared about 5-6 years ago. Within the framework of this project, a joint operation will be established, which will carry out these shipments, provide cargo from China to Europe, on the territory of Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan-Georgia, and deliver it to Georgian ports for later transportation," - said Levan Sulaberidze.

According to him, if before the interested person needed to travel separately to the railway of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, or Georgia to get a single tariff, now it will be at one point and the single-window system will apply. Accordingly, the customer will receive a single tariff and the whole road, which covers a distance of about 7000-8000 km, will be served by one company.

"The Chinese side is interested in this union, as well as European recipients, therefore it will help increase the flow of cargo in our corridor. First of all, it will increase the container flow. To Polish stations for the transportation of various types of cargo, and the joint company of the three countries, based on this tariff policy, will already organize physical transportation, the effect of which will be to increase cargo turnover.

There is a very large list of potential cargo, it will be 20 or 40-foot containers, wheat, coal, cereals, various chemical products, fertilizers, ferrosilicon, and more. Along with Chinese cargo, there is also a large range of goods produced in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, which until now were exported through various corridors. "Now these traders will be able to use our corridor more flexibly and easily," said the chairman of the Transport and Logistics Committee of the Kazakh-Georgian Economic Union.