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The criteria related to the business reputation, financial condition and professional competence of the operator of international passenger and freight transport by road, and the requirements on the level of training of the operator’s drivers are set out by the rules. The maintaining record of operators by the Land Transport Agency of Azerbaijan under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport is also regulated by them.
The rules set out that legal entities or individuals wishing to be registered as an operator must be registered for tax purposes, have vehicles registered with the state on the right of ownership, use or lease, and meet certain criteria related to business reputation, financial standing and professional competence.
The new rules will increase the competitiveness of national road carriers by improving drivers’ knowledge and skills and management development, leading to an increase in their share of the bilateral and third country transport market, as well as their share of the West–East and North–South international transport corridors.
The application of the requirements of the Quality Charter of International Transport Forum (ITF) (the leading regulatory mechanism in the field of road transport) is one of the objectives of introducing the rules for admission of Azerbaijani road carriers to international passenger and freight transport by road. Relevant requirements for the institution, business reputation, financial stability and professional competence are set out and entities that meet these requirements to transport are admitted by the Quality Charter. This makes organization of road transport operations efficient, the development of the industry sustainable and investment attractiveness increased.
The process of entering into force of the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the “Rules for admission to international passenger and freight transport by road” will take one year after its publication. Appropriate preparations to maintain records of operators will be made by the Land Transport Agency of Azerbaijan during the year. The service Guide for Carriers will organize meetings with carriers and will provide them with necessary explanations and methodological support.

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The presidential decree promises subsidies to exporters to compensate for expenses, including up to 70% of transportation costs. Young entrepreneurs will get loans.
According to the presidential decree “On additional measures to support participants in foreign trade activities” measures to support and stimulate the export activities of domestic business entities will be strengthened.
For example, from April 1, 2022 until April 1, 2023, subsidies to compensate for transportation costs in the amount of up to 70% are provided to domestic enterprises (their authorized representatives), when exporting high value-added products to the countries of the European Union.
Also from April 1:
ꞏ subsidies are provided to compensate for transportation costs in the amount of up to 50% when exporting high value-added products to neighboring countries;
ꞏ the Export Promotion Agency reimburses expenses related to the accreditation of conformity assessment bodies by an accreditation body that is a member of international organizations ILAC/IAF;
ꞏ 50% reduction of the amount of prepayment required when business entities export goods (except for special types of goods), works and services on the basis of invoices without concluding an agreement is announced.
The Unified Exporter Support Portal will regularly publish an approved list of high value-added products, the export of which will be provided with subsidies to compensate for transportation costs.
They will also cancel the procedure for prohibiting the use of benefits on customs payments during customs clearance of goods that are in the customs warehouse regime for a period of more than six months.
The Young Entrepreneurs Support Fund based on decisions of the Government Commission will allocate loans up to $500,000 in order to support youth entrepreneurship, including stimulating activities for the production of export-oriented products and the provision of services based on innovative technologies.
The Export Support Fund will allocate $10 million to Uztrade and Uzsanoatexport JSCs in order to provide foreign trade companies with working capital.

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According to Finprom.kz, trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China reached $1.4 billion as of January (53.4% up compared to the previous year).
The Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms reports that China’s share is 16.1 percent of the country’s foreign trade turnover.
In the first month of this year exports to China exceeded imports (77.9 % up over the year) and reached $771.7 million. China’s share of total exports from Kazakhstan reached 12.7%.
Imports reached $648.5 million (31.8 % up). It is 23.8 % of the total volume of imports to Kazakhstan.
The National Bank’s statistics informs that the obligations of Kazakh residents to Chinese investors as of Oct. 1, 2021 reached $13.5 billion (0.4 percent growth compared to a year earlier). After a two-year decline this indicator rose slightly.
The majority of finance ($2.8 billion) was allocated to the manufacturing industry in Kazakhstan by investors from China by October 2021. They also made investments in the sphere of transport and warehousing ($2.6 billion), trade and car repair ($2.1 billion).
In January – September 2021 the gross inflow of Chinese direct investments amounted to $1.5 billion. It is 2.9 times more than a year earlier ($521.8 million in January – September 2020).
1,500 companies with Chinese capital operate in the country as of March 1 (increase 17.4% compared to the previous year).
The wholesale, retail trade, car repair, construction and mining industries are the spheres most of these companies are engaged in.

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According to the Minister of Industry and Infrastructure Development of Kazakhstan Kairbek Uskenbayev, export and transit cargos from Kazakhstan will be redirected to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TMTM) crossing Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, Uskenbayev said that Kazakhstan had reached an agreement with Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to create a joint venture on the route as an integrated transport and logistics company.
The Kazakh official said that a container hub on the basis of the free economic zone seaport of Aktau is to be created in order to develop cargo transportation via TMTM.
Kazakhstan has begun working on alternate routes for the transportation of export and transit cargos, along with the authorities’ decision to redirect the freight to Latvian ports due to the war in Ukraine and sanctions imposed against Russia.
The aim of the TMTM, established in October 2016, is to attract transit and foreign trade cargo, as well as develop integrated logistics products via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which runs through China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia and further to European countries.

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An online trade facilitation tool (ITC-WCO Rules of Origin Facilitator) has been launched by Customs Service. It identifies the information related to trade agreements, customs duties applicable according to the final destination, rules of origin specific to each product and information on certificates of origin. The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the International Trade Center (ITC) launched this online search system.
This tool gives economic operators involved in international trade the opportunity to consult information on rules of origin, price and competitiveness of manufactured products. It helps companies to make the decisions on investment and to identify raw material suppliers.
The country of origin of goods is determined with the help of Rules of origin. Preferential tariff treatment consisting of relief or reduction of customs duty may be applied to their importation depending on the origin of the goods.
This online search system is free and available at the following link: www.findrulesoforigin.org.

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Central Asia has been identified as a new market for expansion and Kazakhstan as a regional hub for Malaysian exporters by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE).
According to CEO of MATRADE Mohd Mustafa Abdul Aziz, the agency is planning to strengthen the groundwork in Central Asia, mainly Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and facilitate more connections between Malaysian exporters and buyers in these countries.
Kazakhstan and Central Asia could offer each other a lot of products and services.
Speaking about oil and gas and aerospace areas, Abdul Aziz said that Kazakhstan could contribute a lot to the bilateral trade relationships between both countries. From the other side, halal products (food and beverages, cosmetics and Islamic finance) have high potential for export to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Electrical and electronic, rubber, agricultures, palm oil-based manufactures and palm oil-based agricultural products were Malaysia’s top five export products in 2021. They totaled $88.5 billion and accounted for 85.7 percent of the country’s total export to Kazakhstan.
Malaysia imported from Kazakhstan mainly metal manufactures, transport equipment, chemicals and chemical products, machinery, equipment and parts as well as refined petroleum products (totally $10.8 billion).
According to Abdul Aziz, Kazakhstan can become the central distribution hub for Malaysian palm oil and other products in Central Asia.
He said that it was important to look again at the opportunities available in Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region. The closure of borders in Malaysia made it impossible to undertake trade relation opportunities in that region. He added that it was necessary to be really aggressive in making Malaysia’s presence felt and heard in Kazakhstan.
MATRADE is planning to use the upcoming Kazakhstan International Building and Exhibition (KazBuild) and Kazakhstan International Oil & Gas Exhibition (KIOGE) in September 2022 as part of its strategy to explore opportunities in Central Asia.
Export missions to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in November 2022 are also planned by the Malaysian national trade promotion agency.
This way, interest from Malaysian companies to further exploration of those regions was demonstrated. MATRADE should ensure that the right companies are brought, so that they will be matched perfectly with their potential partners in both countries.
A full-fledge trade office in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2015 and a marketing office in Tashkent, Uzbekistan in 2010 have been established by MATRADE in order to facilitate market access for Malaysia products and services in Central Asia.
Kazakh and Uzbek business communities who are keen to source from Malaysia have access to the offices. Kazakhstan’s private sector is also encouraged by MATRADE to leverage Malaysia as a strategic hub to source or distribute their products and services in ASEAN.
In 2021 Kazakhstan was Malaysia’s largest trading partner, export destination and source of imports in the Central Asia region (the 94th largest trading partner).
According to Abdul Aziz, in 2021 Malaysia’s total trade with Kazakhstan was 7.7 times higher than the total trade recorded over the past 20 years since the two countries established their bilateral relationship and totally valued at $99.3 million.
He said that the trade trends for the past 20 years had shown that trade linkages between both countries were in line with their initiatives to boost their trades with the Central Asia region, particularly with Kazakhstan.
The 30th Kazakhstan and Malaysia diplomatic relations anniversary is celebrated this month, and when the pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, high-level visits between both countries are likely to be organized to further strengthen their political, economic, and people-to-people ties.

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According to the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan and Slovakia decided to increase cooperation in water management, automotive industry, waste recycling and green technology. The ninth meeting of the Kazakh- Slovak intergovernmental commission on economic and scientific and technical cooperation was held on the 11th of March in Bratislava.
Kazakh students are expected to be trained at Slovak universities. The event was attended by Karol Galek, the second State Secretary of the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic, Slovak investors. Kazakh delegation was represented by Talgat Momyshev, the Vice-Minister of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources of Kazakhstan.
The proposition of the Kazakh officials was to strengthen cooperation in management and monitoring of forestry, environmental control, construction and production of building materials, and to launch the transit container traffic.
During the event Kazakh delegation presented new measures and government policy in the field of investment support, opportunities of special economic and industrial zones, as well as the country’s potential in the field of mechanical engineering and metallurgy.
According to the Slovak authorities, a favorable investment climate was created by the fact that Kazakhstan opened the door for foreign investment and that the government promised to fulfill all obligations to investors.
The agenda of the meeting contained cooperation in all sectors of industry, including trade, energy, aviation, innovations and modern technologies.
After the meeting, the memorandum of understanding was signed by Talgat Mukhanov, the head of department of the Investment Committee and Osim Mamatkulov, who represented the Slovak company Heneken. The majority of secondary aluminum and zinc alloys in Slovakia is produced by Heneken, the largest company of the country, specializing in metallurgy, logistics, machinery, building materials and energy. An aluminum smelter, a cable factory and a zinc alloys factory are also included in the group.

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The visit of Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Reza Fatemi-Amin to Armenia is hailed as constructive. According to the Embassy of Iran in Armenia, joint ventures will be launched by Teheran and Yerevan.
Renza Fatemi said that Iran would import raw materials or parts, which were the basis of pharmaceutical products and home appliances to Armenia. Armenia will make the joint products and export them to other county.
Expanding bilateral trade via joint investments was the aim of the visit. As Reza Fatemi-Amin said in Yerevan, the focus of the visit was deepening ties between Iran and Armenia via joint ventures.
He also said that the meeting with Armenian officials was helpful and facilitating bilateral trade between the two neighbors. The Iranian minister of Industry, Trade and Mine said that this two-day visit had helped to pave the way for the joint activities of Iranian and Armenian companies in trade transit, marketing and sales activities.
The Iranian delegation was accompanied by dozens of Iranian private companies’ CEOs during the visit to Armenia.
Fatemi-Amin said that launching of infrastructure projects in Armenia had been agreed.
According to the Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade, preliminary agreements on a range of issues such as building dams and roads in Armenia by Iranian companies were made during the meetings with Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan and Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan and the Armenia deputy PM. He also added that they had agreed on building a transit road to complete the infrastructure projects in Armenia in the long run. He noted that Iranian companies would take part in relevant tenders.
Readiness of Tran to cooperate with Armenia in the construction of a new transport route (Kajaran – Sisian road) was announced by the Embassy. This road comes as part of Iran’s bid to launch the North – South Transport Corridor and is part of Iran – Armenia- Georgia Transportation Corridor. A 7200 km long multi-mode network of ship, rail and road routes for moving freight between Iran, India, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Armenia, Central Asia and Europe is called the International North-South Transport Corridor. Its aim is to boost trade connections between regional and ultra-regional states.
An important part of the joint effort to boost bilateral trade was the agreement between Iranian and Armenian officials on cutting transit tariffs.
Reza Fatemi-Amin said that they had had two short-term and long-term agreements with Armenia concerning transit of goods.

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The training with the participation of twenty grapevine producers was held in January in a traditional winemaking region of Georgia, Kakheti.
It was conducted by a Spanish international expert in phytosanitary problems of grapevines, Julio Prieto. He represented the Ministry of Agriculture of Spain. The training was a part of the EU4Business program and was supported by the EU and FAO.
The EU and four UN Agencies launched EU Innovative Action for Private Sector Competitiveness in Georgia in 2019 with a budget of EUR 5 million.
The aim of the project is to strengthen the capacities of government and local entities to enhance and manage clusters. It will lead to the development of enterprises and business sophistication. The support and strategic investments together with closer connections with diaspora group will prove that these business strategies are effective.
The entire vineyard cultivation process and the complete cycle of grapevine production were covered by Mr. Prieto at this training. He started with speaking about growing saplings and finally ended with explanation of the right way of harvesting grapes.
General management of different kinds of vineyards, planning of pruning, fertilization, irrigation, organic grapevine production and Integrated Pest Management – all these topics were included in the learning sessions.
All winegrowers present were interested in the topic of Pest Management, because “Lobesia botrana” or “European grape worm” is a common problem.
The method of mating disruptive pheromones hasn’t shown good results because of poor technical guidance.
The commitment of the EU and FAO is the support of Georgian agricultural wine producers and increasing of the sector’s competiveness, profit and resistance to challenges.
The international experience of dealing with the problem of the vine worms was interesting to hear. Giorgi Rukhadze, owner of George Grey Winery, said that a lot of new information had been provided even for the most experienced winegrowers. He also added that it contained knowledge essential for newcomers to avoid many problems.
Javier Sanz Alvarez, the coordinator of EU-FAO Program, stated that grapevines were extremely economically and traditionally important for Georgia, so, the commitment of the EU and FAO was the support of Georgian agricultural wine producers and increasing of the sector’s competiveness, profit and resistance to challenges.
The profit brought by wine exports from Georgia equaled to $250 million (107 million bottles). It showed 359% growth compared to 2012, when the country exported only 23 million bottles and received $71 million of income.
In 2021, Georgia exported more wine and profited by 16% more than in 2020.
Brandy export also increased by 30% compared to 2020 and 554% compared to 2012 (42.2 million bottles). The brandy export earnings grew by 19% (78.3 million).
The export of chacha reached 1 million bottles (up 145% compared to 2020, up 622% compared to 2012). It brought profit equal to $2.6 million (up 126% compared to 2020).
The exports grew in strategic markets: Poland 34% (7, 003, 031), China 29% (5, 934, 937), US 19% (1, 084, 278), Germany 28% (892, 348), Latvia 19% (1, 900, 519), Lithuania 45% (986, 740), Japan 12% (197, 638) and the UK 71% (736, 391). Russia was the main consumer of wine – 62, 115,759 bottles.
For the first time in the history the USA imported more than 1 million bottles of Georgian wine. It was stated that 442 companies exported the wine from Georgia, compared to 120 in 2012.
The overall exports of alcohol brought profit equal to $400 million (up 18% compared to 2020 and up 142% compared to 2012).
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment protection, the exports of Georgian wine reached 5.3 million bottles in January 2022 (up 51% compared to January 2021) and the total profit reached $11.6 million (up 43%).
The National Wine Agency implies measures in order to promote its production on strategic markets: Poland 103%, China 514%, Lithuania 114%, USA 245%, Latvia 22%, Estonia 102%, Japan 482%, and the United Kingdom 35%.
These markets also showed a significant increase: Ukraine 93%, Kazakhstan 106%, the Netherlands 74%, Sweden 234%, Russia 34%, Mongolia 23%, etc.
According to the state agency, 12,123 companies exported Georgian wine.

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Two separate meetings between Vučić and the King of Spain Felipe VI and the Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez are announced by the Office for Media relations of the President.
Vučić will be present at the signing of the agreement on the purchase of two C-295 Casa transport planes of the “Airbus” company.
Before his visit, the President invited King Philip and Prime Minister Sánchez to Serbia.
Vučić said that Serbian and Spanish officials hadn’t met for 50 years, and added that the King and Prime Minister are sincere friends of Serbia.
As for the agreement on buying two Spanish transport planes, Vučić underlined its importance for Serbia.
He explained that new airports and new planes would give the possibility to connect Kraljevo and Nis and Belgrade, Baska and Banat, Pcinjski district, which is necessary for forces’ movement.
Serbia has friendly relations with Spain, as it is one of the five countries of the European country that denies the unilateral independence declaration of Kosovo. A steady growth characterizes the trade between Serbia and Spain. Renewable energy sources, transport infrastructure, agricultural industry, energy and environmental protection are the most attractive sectors of investment.
Prospects for increasing exports to the Spanish market are realistic for the products of rubber, wood and furniture industries, food products, frozen and canned fruit.

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