PM stresses importance of “proper” port, railway infrastructure in realising Georgia’s regional hub role

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday said while Central Asian countries agreed on the need to diversify and develop new routes, a “special attention” was paid to the transport corridor involving Georgia, in his highlighting of the importance of port, railway and other infrastructure for realising the country’s role of a regional hub. Georgian … Read more

First container train from Uzbekistan to Europe via CASCA+ route arrives in Baku

For the first time, the container block train departing from Uzbekistan to Europe with the CASCA + multimodal transport route created on the basis of the international multimodal route “Asia-Pacific countries-China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkiye-Europe” has arrived in Baku. The containers were delivered from the port of Turkmenbashi to the port of Baku by the feeder ship “Balkan”, the … Read more

Armenia bans export of some agricultural products

The Armenian government on December 22 decided to ban the export of some agricultural products from Armenia for 6 months, the Armenian Ministry of Economy reported in Facebook. “To ensure food security and stabilization of Armenia’s economy, goods under codes 1206 00 990 0, 1512 11 910, 1512 19 900 2 and 1512 19 900 … Read more

Export from Serbia to Germany will have new rules

The new law on supply chains will appear on January 1, 2023 in Germany. It will proscribe to all companies from Serbia, local or foreign, exporting raw materials, components, semi-products and services to the German market, to honor human rights and to prove that they are environmentally friendly. Companies which export finished products aren’t pertained to by this regulation.
According to Tanja Lindell, Deputy Manager in department for Industry at Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS), German companies with over 3,000 employees will be primarily pertained to by the new law, and from January 1, 2024, it will start being applied to German companies with over a thousand employees.
Lindell says that German companies with their own activities are subject to this law. It is transferred to direct and indirect suppliers of semi-products and services in the production chain, that is, to all those companies which have supply agreements with companies over there. She mentions the lack of information about the number of companies this pertains to, due to ignoring what kind of agreements they have. Around 3,000 Serbian companies export to the German market, but a part of them exports finished products.
As Lindell says, those responsibilities and obligations from the law which the end-customer, the German partner, transfers to Serbian companies, will have to be met by them. Only what the German company must fulfill is defined by the law, and the contract will define which part of the obligations the German company transfers to its direct supplier. Companies are required by the law to make risk assessment, to carry out success analyses regularly, to respect human rights, to protect the environment and to publish reports which are public.
Lindell notes that the German law prepares companies for the EU directive which they have announced and which has already been preparing. It will be much stricter than the German law. An office for helping Serbian companies with the aim of informing them, as well as possible, and of helping them adapt the new law on supply chains will be opened by the CCIS in the first quarter of 2023.
According to Dragoljub Rajic of the Business Support Network, this regulation will not affect a large number of Serbian companies in the first year of the application. However, it will affect more companies beginning with the year after that, especially logistics companies which transport raw materials. The fact that German companies will not be able to work with companies which violate human rights in any way, which are involved in forced labor, or which have illegal employees will not affect Serbian exporters. Companies from Asia and Africa which participate in German supply chains are mostly pertained to by this.
Rajic explains that it will be more significant to prove that companies exporting raw materials or semi-products don’t pollute the environment through their business operations. The amount of carbon-dioxide emitted during their production or operating processes mustn’t exceed the level proscribed in Germany for the given industry. Serbian producers will have to replace diesel with other fuels in a certain percentage, or to use Euro 5 engines or to prove that the share in production is either at a minimum or zero. In the future hybrid trucks will have to start being bought by logistics companies, and the rail sector will have to be switched to hydrogen.
This has been initiated by Germany, but similar steps are being taken by France and Great Britain, and it will soon be an obligation at the EU level. The rail sector will be a great challenge for Serbia, as it is the greenest form of transport. Slow Serbian rail sector is not competitive. Due to this reason, entry of an Austrian cargo group to Serbian market has been announced.

Source Link

Ukraine’s trade turnover reached $90.1B in Jan-Nov 2022

In January-November 2022, Ukraine imported $49.4 billion worth of goods, while the exports of goods came to $40.7 billion. The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian State Customs Service on Telegram, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. Most imports came from China ($7.6 billion), Poland ($5 billion) and Germany ($4 billion). Most exports went to Poland … Read more

New Rules for Export from Serbia to Germany

Companies from Serbia, local or foreign, which export raw materials, components, semi-products and services to the German market, will have to honor human rights and prove that they do not pollute the environment, from January 1, 2023, as the new law on supply chains in Germany proscribes. This regulation does not pertain to our companies … Read more

Georgian domestic exports up 31.8% in January-November

Geostat said local exports in the country had accounted for 67.6 percent of total exports in the reporting period, amounting to $3.40 billion, 21.2 percent higher compared to the same period of 2021. Georgia has exported locally produced goods worth $5.03 billion between January-November, which is a 31.8 percent increase year-on-year, preliminary data from the … Read more

Azerbaijan exports $793.9 million worth products to EU countries in November

Products worth $793.9 million have been exported to the EU countries in November, the State Customs Committee told AZERTAC. Last month Azerbaijan imported from EU countries products worth $209.2 million, according to the committee. Products worth $24.169 billion have been exported to the EU countries in January-November of 2022. According to the State Customs Committee, … Read more

ANIF’s new contribution in Armenia’s agricultural sector

Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) said today its subsidiary “Entrepreneur + State” Investments Fund is launching a new investment project jointly with the “K&G” company. The joint project “Berrymount” company will start large-scale production of strawberries for export. The partner company “K&G” was founded in 2015 and already has two greenhouses with a total area … Read more