Minister wants free trade with Georgia, Azerbaijan

TBILISI - Anatolia News Agency

Turkish Economy Minister talks to journalists in Tblisi of Georgia yesterday.

Ties between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia will help establish a strong free trade area, said Turkey’s Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan yesterday at a business forum between the three countries, adding that future projects would bring these countries closer to each other.

“This business forum of the three countries is the first of its kind. Such meetings will be held every year in one of our countries. And I hope our three seas, the Black Sea, the Caspian and the Mediterranean will see a great model of cooperation between our three countries in a time of global dire straits,” Çağlayan said.

Visa problems

Çağlayan said they would introduce entrance to Azerbaijan with ID cards instead of passports as is permitted between Turkey and Georgia. 

“We [Turkey and Russia] have removed the visa [requirement between the countries]. We have removed it with 62 countries. It is hard to explain why this [visa] problem lingers on with Azerbaijan,” he said, adding that Turkey wanted to increase trade volume with its neighbors and goods moving free of duty across neighboring borders.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project was targeted to be completed by 2014 and to be extended to Nakhichevan, he said.