Lasha Khutsishvili, Georgia’s Finance Minister, talked about the process of enforcing international sanctions against the Russian Federation during the Minister’s Hour format at the plenary.

The Minister claimed that no occurrences of violation of the imposed sanctions were recorded over the previous year due to the country’s customs agency’s efficient operation. According to him, any goods on the sanctions list, as well as any customs activity carried out by sanctioned individuals or companies, are subject to enhanced customs control in Georgia.

Minister stated that since imposing international sanctions, a working group within the Customs Risk Management Division exercised centralized control over the sanctions’ enforcement.

“During this period, 16 risk profiles were created, based on which the movement of prohibited goods to or from the customs territory of Georgia in the direction of sanctioned individuals and companies, as well as transit, export, and re-export procedures, are identified and controlled,” the Minister said.

The Minister went on to say that the agency communicated with strategic partners several times about the technical support needed for the appropriate administration of sanctions since they were imposed.

“As a result, 1020 customs decisions have been taken at customs checkpoints regarding the return of sanctioned goods. As for the export or re-export products in the Economic Zones, over 600 customs decisions were made rejecting a person’s oral/written application,” he added.

Furthermore, the Minister stated that military and dual-purpose goods require a special permit on Georgian territory provided by the Ministry of Defense and the Revenue Service. Since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, issuing such permits has been halted.