Business news

TBILISI, 21 March (BelTA) – The governments of Belarus and Georgia are working on alternative routes for delivering merchandise for the sake of developing the bilateral trade, BelTA learned from Ambassador of Belarus to Georgia Mikhail Myatlikov.

The ambassador said: “Merchandise delivery is a problem to some degree for both sides in our trade and economic cooperation. We primarily transport merchandise by road. The Georgian Military Road, the pass across the Caucasian ridge is the only way to deliver the goods to Georgia today. But avalanches threaten the road in winter and in early spring. The road gets closed sometimes and our trucks loaded with goods stand idle,” noted the ambassador. Such a situation is particularly critical for food.

The matter of finding new ways to deliver merchandise is being discussed by the governments. It was discussed by Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Rusy and First Deputy Prime Minister, Economy and Sustainable Development Minister of Georgia Dimitry Kumsishvili during the session of the intergovernmental commission in Minsk one month ago. The Belarusian Transport Ministry and the Georgian Economy Ministry are now working to find alternative ways.

The ambassador talked about the viability of delivering cargoes by sea via Odessa and Georgian ports. “If the rates are acceptable, we can come up with other ways of delivering our products but the rates are high for now. The matter should be looked into by the trilateral Belarusian-Ukrainian-Georgian commission. Working groups should be set up. It is up to the governments of the countries to do that,” he remarked.