In a historic first, Azerbaijan has sent a shipment of petrol to Armenia through Georgia.
Azerbaijani Pro-government media outlet APA reported that 22 railcars loaded with the SOCAR-produced AI-95 petrol were being sent to Armenia on Thursday.
While the Azerbaijani government has yet to comment on reports of the shipment, Armenian officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan, have confirmed that the shipment was taking place.
Pashinyan welcomed the news during his Thursday press briefing.
‘The trade is taking place between private companies, but of course, it is the peace established between Armenia and Azerbaijan that has created the political conditions for this trade’, Pashinyan said, adding that there were agreements on ‘political level’ regarding the issue as well.
Pashinyan also confirmed that there were issues related to Georgian tariffs and expressed hope that they would be resolved. Otherwise he suggested if the transfer continues, ‘logically, businesses will seek alternative ways to ensure imports and exports’.
Separately, Papoyan told RFE/RL that the shipment contained around 1,300 tonnes of petrol and is expected to arrive in Armenia ‘in the coming days’.
Papoyan has refrained from naming the company importing the petrol into Armenia.
At the same time, the minister said that the Armenian and Azerbaijani companies negotiated the details of the deal and that the imported fuel has high-quality specifications.
‘Let’s note that instead of war, we are trading. War [brings] losses, trade [brings] prosperity’, Papoyan told RFE/RL.
Georgian tariffs and peace progress
APA said the shipment would be made ‘in line with the peace agenda between Azerbaijan and Armenia’, based on an agreement reached between Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev and his Armenian counterpart, Mher Grigoryan, on 28 November in Gabala, Azerbaijan.
Grigoryan and Mustafayev had met in the Azerbaijani city as part of a series of talks between the Armenian and Azerbaijani border delimitation commissions. It marked their first such meeting inside either country.
APA has stressed that the petroleum products were being sold to Armenia at international market prices, and that the export was ‘purely commercial in nature’.
While the pro-Azerbaijani government media outlet stopped short of confirming that the fuel would reach Armenia through Georgia, it cited the Georgian government’s pledge to ensure a tariff-free one-time transit of Azerbaijani petrol to Armenia through Georgia in early December.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The Georgian announcement followed reporting by Azerbaijani pro-government media outlet Minval, which suggested at the time that Azerbaijani cargo was being subjected to high tariffs, framing the expensive taxes as an example of Tbilisi ‘trying to break the peace’ in the region.
On Wednesday, Armenian state media outlet Armenpress cited Azerbaijani media reports suggesting that Azerbaijani petroleum shipments were being obstructed by Tbilisi’s tariff policy.
Armenpress cited an interview with Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Georgia’s Public Broadcaster, in which he said that Georgia ‘fully considers the acceptable interests of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides’.
‘We have our own priorities, and I believe that through negotiations, we will easily find the best way to satisfy the interests of all three countries’, he said.
The shipment comes as Armenia and Azerbaijan appear to be intensifying their efforts to reach a peace agreement after the Washington summit in August.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
