Issue of export of Armenian brandy via Georgia largely settled -  minister 

ArmInfo. Thanks to the daily work of the Armenian-Georgian joint working group, the issue of exporting Armenian brandy has been largely resolved. This was reported by the Minister of Economy of Armenia Gevorg Papoyan on his Facebook page.

"As you know, during our visit to Georgia, we agreed to create a  working group of representatives of the Ministry of Economy of  Armenia and the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection  of Georgia to resolve the problems that have arisen in the export of  Armenian brandy. As a result of the daily work of the working group,  I can already say today that the issue of brandy export has been  largely resolved," the minister wrote.

As an example, he cited data from the Georgian side, according to  which 27 cars loaded with bottled brandy were able to leave the  Georgian customs point of Gezi during the day, and another 1 car did  not pass inspection.

"This statistic once again confirms that the vast majority of bottled  goods exported from Armenia (in this case, more than 96%) are of  proper quality and meet all the standards established for brandy. I  would like to thank our brandy producers for their patience,  understanding and high quality of their products," Papoyan concluded.

That for three months, Armenian brandy producers and their exporters  faced artificial obstacles created by the Georgian side for Armenian  producers supplying brandy to third-country markets. Dozens of  Armenian trucks loaded with this drink stood idle for weeks at  Georgian customs. Due to delays in inspection, Armenian exporters  suffered large financial losses. The issue was partially resolved  after the Armenian delegation visited Tbilisi at the end of June this  year.

As ejc.am reported at the time, citing the director of the ACSES  analytical center, Haykaz Fanyan, the restrictions on the export of  Armenian brandy through the Armenian-Georgian border had a very  "banal" explanation. "According to some information, certain  officials want to establish some control over the distribution of  Armenian brandy. That is, instead of Armenian producers themselves  exporting brandy to Russia through Georgia, companies controlled by  the Georgians themselves would purchase this brandy and re-export it,  receiving a certain commission," Fanyan noted at the time.