Day: April 23, 2024

Georgia protests against scandalous bill again  MSN

President Ilham Aliyev attends COP29 and Green Vision for Azerbaijan int’l forum (LIVE)  Trend News Agency

On April 19, the National Statistics Service of Georgia (Geostat) published preliminary data indicating that in January-March 2024, Georgia’s foreign trade decreased by 6.5% compared to the same period of 2023, totaling $4.699 billion in value.

In January-March 2024, exports from Georgia decreased by 9.3% to $1.326 billion, while imports lowered by 5.3% to $3.373 billion. As a result, the country’s negative trade balance was $2.047 billion, representing 43.6% of its foreign trade turnover.

In the same period, Turkey was Georgia’s largest trade partner with $722 million in trade volume, followed by Russia with $619 million, China with $331 million, United States with $329 million, and Azerbaijan with $299 million.

During the reporting period, Kyrgyzstan was Georgia’s largest trade partner in exports with $236 million, followed by Russia with $161 million, Kazakhstan with $147 million, Azerbaijan with $135 million, and Armenia with $127 million.

In terms of imports, Georgia’s largest trading partners were Turkey with $625 million, Russia with $458 million, the United States with $299 million, China with $267 million, and Germany with $223 million.

In January-March 2024, the largest commodity groups in exports were led by motor cars – $444 million. Then come: wine of fresh grapes – $84 million; ferro-alloys – $73 million; spirituous beverages – $57 million; precious metal ores and concentrates – $40 million; natural or artificial mineral and aerated waters, not containing added sugar – $37 million; nitrogenous fertilizers – $34 million; medicaments put up in measured doses – $29 million; waters, mineral and aerated waters, containing added sugar – $24 million; T-shirts knitted – $24 million; other commodities – $483 million.

As for imports, the major commodity groups here are motor cars – $487 million; petroleum and petroleum oils – $290 million; petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons – $184 million; medicaments put up in measured doses – $153 million; telephone sets and apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data (including wired/wireless networks) – $79 million; motor vehicles for the transport of goods – $49 million; bars and rods of iron or non-alloy steel – $41 million; automatic data processing machines and units thereof – $38 million; structures and parts of structures of iron or steel – $30 million; motor vehicles for the transport of ten or more persons – $29 million; other commodities – $1.995 billion.

Also Read:

• 19/03/2024 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Down 4.8% in January-February 2024
• 13/03/2024 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Down 5.0% in January-February 2024
• 19/02/2024 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Down 14.8% in January 2024
• 13/02/2024 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Down 14.9% in January 2024
• 22/01/2024 – Georgia’s Foreign Trade Up 12.5% in 2023

US State Department mentions Azerbaijan’s offensive against Nagorno Karabakh, closure of Lachin corridor in 2023 …  Public Radio of Armenia – Official Web site

The US Department of State mentioned Azerbaijan’s offensive against Nagorno Karabakh in September 2023, the closure of the Lachin corridor and the arrest of ethnic Armenian officials in the 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

“On September 19-20, Azerbaijan conducted a military operation to gain full control over Nagorno-Karabakh. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan had closed the Lachin Corridor to most civilian and commercial traffic, allowing only intermittent humanitarian access until Azerbaijan reopened it on September 24 for one-way traffic out of Nagorno-Karabakh. Between September 24 and October 1, more than 100,000 Nagorno-Karabakh residents – virtually all of the region’s ethnic Armenians – fled to Armenia,” the State Department says in the report on Azerbaijan.

“From December 2022 through April 23, government-supported protesters effectively closed the sole road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia via the Lachin Corridor, leaving it inaccessible to most civilian and commercial traffic from Armenia. On April 23, Azerbaijani authorities established a border checkpoint on the road and continued to restrict most civilian and commercial traffic from Armenia. The closure resulted in shortages of delivery of food, fuel, medicine, and other essential humanitarian supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh residents and hindered their ability to leave the region. These restrictions reportedly resulted in some deaths,” the report notes.

It reminds that the government continued to prosecute detained ethnic Armenian civilians and Armenian soldiers in public trials that lacked elements of due process such as a right to legal representation during questioning, adherence to basic evidentiary standards, and lack of an independent judiciary.

The report also mentioned the arrest of at least eight senior ethnic Armenian Nagorno Karabakh officials.

The State Department stresses that “the government did not take credible steps to punish the majority of officials who were reported to have committed human rights abuses. There was no reported progress on government investigations of alleged abuses committed by Azerbaijani armed forces or individuals during the 2020 and 2022 hostilities.”

Reuters: Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week.

The State Department’s annual human…