Minister of Trade Ruhsar Pekcan visited the Öncüpınar Customs Gate in Kilis and received a briefing from the relevant people in the meeting room.
Minister Pekcan later told reporters that he would attend his party’s Political Academy program during his contacts in Kilis, and then they would meet with tradesmen and business people in the provincial coordination board and listen to their demands and problems.
Explaining that he visited Öncüpınar Customs Gate and identified the needs and deficiencies there, Pekcan stated that they will eliminate the deficiencies as soon as possible.
In response to a journalist’s question about the precautions taken against the new type of coronavirus at the border gates, Pekcan said, “We have a working group regarding this in the cabinet, together with the relevant ministries. We take all kinds of precautions and security measures at our gates. Especially at our priority risk gates, there should be masks, gloves and disinfectant.” “Let it be…” he said.
Explaining that they disinfected all gates, especially the Iranian border gates, Pekcan continued as follows:
“When the events in Iran got a little out of control, we had to close our Iran gate. In fact, Iran is our export route to Central Asia, but we are in contact with Georgia now. We have just arrived from Azerbaijan. We have access to our Sarp Border Gate, Türkgözü, via Georgia. We increased the capacity of our gate, Çıldır and Çıldır Aktaş. We installed lighting at our Sarp gate, and they are now able to inspect agricultural products, including agricultural products, 24 hours a day. We can handle up to 500 vehicles per day at our Aktaş gate. Currently, there are 200 vehicles, but we will be able to increase that to 500. Therefore, from Iran We can close the gap we have here. Apart from that, we have the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. 1 train runs on this line per day and 40 wagons. We can increase this to 60 wagons. I also met with our Minister of Transport and Infrastructure. If necessary, we can increase this line to 7 train-days. Therefore, as long as our exporters want it, we will remove all obstacles in front of them, including quotas during this transition period and this process.”
