Turkey, Russia agree on extending simplified customs procedures

Turkish minister of customs and trade has said Turkey and Russia had agreed to extend application of a set of simplified customs procedures -- currently available at one customs checkpoint -- to other such facilities in a bid to boost trade ties between the two nations. In a written statement on Tuesday, Hayati Yazici said that Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade and Russian Federation Customs Authority had decided to include three more customs checkpoints in "the Green Line" which was first introduced in 2009.   Yazici said the Green Line will be available at Triyebortniye Crossing on the Ukrainian border (beginning on October 15, 2013), Verhkny Lars Crossing on the Georgian border  (beginning on January 1, 2014), and Tuapse Port on Black Sea coast  (beginning on October 15, 2013).   Referring to the advantages of Green Line, Yazici stated that it will enable benchmark value application and physical examination of the goods to be exempt from custom clearance procedure and shorten the time for custom clearance.