After being effectively obstructed for weeks, 52 lorries carrying Armenian brandy have been allowed to cross the Georgian border into Russia. Georgia has additionally ‘promised’ to resolve any issues regarding 72 more lorries carrying brandy ‘within the next five days’.
Armenian Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan announced the update at the Armenian Parliament just days after describing the situation as ‘very dangerous’ for Armenian businesses.
He called the lorries’ crossing ‘significant progress’, noting that in the previous two weeks, no Armenian brandy shipments had been allowed to enter Russia through Georgia. Papoyan said that the preliminary agreement would only allow 33 lorries through Georgia, noting the positive development that a total of 52 transited in the end.
Armenian cargo has been subjected to inspections in Georgia for over one and a half months, effectively preventing the delivery of Armenian brandy to other countries through Georgian territory via the Lars checkpoint, the only open border crossing into Russia.
Papoyan said that during a call with Georgian Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture Davit Songulashvili on Thursday, the latter had ‘promised’ that all 72 Armenian lorries still held up in Georgia would be let through ‘within the next five days’.
Earlier this week, Papoyan announced that Songulashvili would be visiting on Friday to offer a ‘preliminary, so to speak, solution package’, to the blocking of the Armenian lorries.
At the time, Papoyan expressed his intention to ‘organise meetings in different formats on that day, […] so that we don’t leave the room until a solution to the problem would be found’.
However, on Thursday, Papoyan said that Songulashvili will not be able to visit Armenia to meet with him, and that his deputy minister would visit in his stead on Friday.
On Friday, Economy Ministry spokesperson Lilit Shaboyan told OC Media that Songulashvili’s planned meeting was cancelled because the minister was ‘overloaded’ with work. While his deputy arrived in Armenia to participate in an unspecified event, no official meeting will take place — instead, the negotiations are ongoing.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Papoyan refrained from commenting on whether the issue had a political context, only saying that he intended to find a solution to the problem.
Armenian brandy-producing and exporting companies staged two protests in front of the Georgian Embassy in Yerevan in May against the ongoing disruptions to their exports, which have lasted around 50 days, according to RFE/RL.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The Georgian Revenue Service claimed in mid-May that ‘customs control procedures are being carried out as usual. Vehicles are not being delayed’.
Later in May, following the meeting at the embassy, the protesters said that a consul at the embassy had suggested they ‘sue the Georgians in Georgia’.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
