The increase of the annual quota of permits for road transportation of goods to Georgia will be agreed upon in a few months. This was decided by the Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications Ivaylo Moskovski and the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia Dimitry Kumsishvili during the Session of the Joint Intergovernmental Bulgarian-Georgian Committee on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation. The meeting took place on 2 and 3 February 2016 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Minister Ivaylo Moskovski raised the issue on doubling of the annual quota of permits for road transportation of goods. He stated that the main reason for such a proposal is the increasing turnover between both countries. It requires the increase of the number of bilateral/transit road transport permits to 3000 and the number of permits for transportation of goods to/from third countries to 400. Both sides decided that the official increase shall be agreed upon during the Joint Bulgarian-Georgian Committee on International Road Transport which will be held in April this year in Sofia.
Both Ministers discussed the development of the transport corridor Europe – Caucasus – Asia. Minister Ivaylo Moskovski proposed to be explored the possibilities for the organization of a regular cargo railway line in the direction Varna – Tbilisi – Baku. Thus will be generated good opportunities to increase Bulgarian export not only to Georgia, but also to Armenia, Azerbaijan and the Central-Asian countries. Such a railway line shall give opportunities for the realization of transport corridors in cooperation with China and Iran, crossing Georgia and Bulgaria by use of port infrastructure and ferry connections between the two countries.
During the session was signed the Memorandum of Understanding between “BDZ – Cargo” EOOD and Trans Caucasus Terminals LLC, an affiliate of the Georgian Railways. The document gives opportunities for development of transport via the railroad-ferry connection Varna – Ilichevsk – Poti/Batumi. There are expectations for the attraction of new cargo and the eventual adherence of the Bulgarian national railway cargo carrier to the “Silk Train” initiative – a container train connecting the Georgian port Poti with the capital of Azerbaijan – Baku, and transporting cargo from China to Europe along the Trans-Caspian route.
Both ministers discussed the opportunity on the establishment of an airline between Bulgaria and Georgia. They agreed upon to unite their efforts to create good conditions for the attraction of airline operators that could implement direct flights. This will contribute to development of tourism and trade and economic relations.
In the information technology and communications sector were discussed opportunities for cooperation in the field of broadband access infrastructure and rendering of broadband services to population in rarely populated and economically undeveloped areas. Other issues regarding electronic communications networks and services, e-governance and information security were also discussed.
The Bulgarian side presented a new draft Agreement on cooperation in the field of information technology and communications.
During the session were considered current issues of Bulgarian-Georgian economic relations and opportunities for extension of bilateral cooperation in numerous fields as trade, transport, information technology, tourism, agriculture, energy, education, science, etc.
