The agreement signed by the governments of Turkey, Greece and Italy in July 2007 to build a pipeline to ship gas from the Caspian region and Central Asia to European markets will be joined by Azerbaijan soon, and a new contract will be inked, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Hilmi Guler, has said. Guler said in parliament during discussions on the country’s 2009 state budget that the conduit, to be commissioned in 2013, will pump 12 billion cubic meters of gas a year. 3.6bcm o...... полностью

The consequences of last week’s accident on a sub-sea pipeline stretching from Azerbaijan’s oldest Caspian oil field, the Oil Rocks, to the Baku Bay have been eliminated, president of the state oil company SOCAR has said. According to Rovnag Abdullayev, the damaged section of the Oil Rocks-Dubandi pipeline has been replaced and the conduit is back on track. Abdullayev said the accident had not caused suspension of output and crude was being transported to the shore by tankers afterwards. “W...... полностью

Global financial meltdown has caused problems for only one bank in Azerbaijan – UniBank. The crisis has brought about not a threat of bankruptcy, but certain challenges for local banks, and UniBank is no exception, Aftandil Babayev, deputy board chairman of the National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA), told the press Tuesday. Babayev noted that UniBank has appealed to the NBA for assistance due to lack of re-financing sources. The central bank approved the request and lent 50 million manats ($61.7...... полностью

Recent unfounded media reports on the threat of bankruptcy faced by numerous banks in Azerbaijan have sparked tension and uproar, a top official at the country’s central bank has said. “These reports stem not from bias, but, in most cases, from lack of awareness,” Aftandil Babayev, deputy board chairman at the National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA), told a press conference held at the bank on Tuesday. Local media reports circulating in the past few days said 10 private banks in Azerbaijan are fac...... полностью

The Azerbaijani economy is expected to grow 15 per cent in 2009 after growth of 20 per cent in 2008, amid global financial meltdown, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) predicts. “Azerbaijan retains the title of the fastest growing economy in the EBRD region, and the top reformer of the year, but the impact of the global financial crisis will increasingly be felt,” EBRD senior economist Anita Taci said. “The sources for foreign investment will become much scarcer and Az...... полностью

The fourteenth international construction exhibition, BakuBuild, will start in Baku on Wednesday. Over 250 world companies will display their products at the three-day show. Unlike the exhibition held in 2007, this event will cover all fields of the construction sector. A special emphasis will be placed on the technologies of construction safety during the show, which will be organized with the support of the State Agency for Construction Safety of the Ministry of Emergencies.*... читать

The Romania-Azerbaijan business forum was held in Bucharest on Tuesday. The goal of the event, organized by the German Technical Cooperation Society (GTZ) is to hold meetings of Azerbaijani and Romanian businessmen, explore opportunities for cooperation, establish economic relations and render assistance in attracting foreign investment to the country, according to the Confederation of Azerbaijani Entrepreneurs (CAE). The CAE President Alakbar Mammadov as well as 15 Azerbaijani businessmen w...... полностью

The investments being made in Azerbaijan by Britain will be increased. Consultations in this respect were held between British and Azerbaijani businessmen on Tuesday. It was stated on the first day of talks, organized by the International Bank of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), that Azerbaijan’s economy has been developing rapidly over the last few years. A protocol on cooperation was signed between the p...... полностью

The Azerbaijani government’s program targets bringing poverty rate in the country to the level of the world’s developed countries. The rate is to go down from the current 15.8% to as low as 10% by the completion of the State Program on Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development in the Azerbaijan Republic for 2008-2015. The program, which was approved by President Ilham Aliyev’s decree on Monday, outlines nine strategic goals. The Economic Development Ministry is developing a three-year pl...... полностью

The Azerbaijani government is implementing key macro-economic and structural reforms, in close cooperation with the United States and the US Agency for International Development, US ambassador in Baku Anne Derse has said. She told the opening of the 4th Azerbaijan Microfinance Conference in Baku on Tuesday that micro-finance development ensures financial support to underserved and excluded members of society. “It also spurs development of small businesses. And we know that it is small and med...... полностью

The “Zangazur” tanker built in Russia’s Krasnoye Sormovo plant to the order of Azerbaijan State Caspian Shipping Company will be commissioned on Saturday. The loading capacity of the tanker is 13,000 tons. Representatives of the community of Nizhni Novgorod and the Azerbaijani Diaspora will attend a ceremony due on this occasion.*... читать

Georgia is in talks on raising the volume of gas it buys from Azerbaijan, its energy minister Aleksandr Khetaguri said. He told the press in Baku on Tuesday that his country currently purchases 1.5 million cubic meters a day from the neighboring South Caucasus republic. “The volume will be increased in the winter. How much it will increase depends on the outcome of discussions,” Khetaguri said. Georgia stopped importing Russian gas since 2007 over a price rise. The country has been meeting ...... полностью

The United States “seriously ponders” the security and protection of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) main export pipeline, a strategic conduit pumping Azerbaijani oil to world markets, a senior US official has said. “Ensuring the pipeline’s security is pivotal and is one of the key issues on agenda,” US special envoy for Eurasian energy, Boyden Gray, told reporters in Baku. He said the BTC security issue has become more important in the past month, in an apparent reference to the brief war between...... полностью

Turkmenistan is seeking to establish long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan, a Turkmen energy executive said as officials of the two countries met in Baku to explore avenues for energy cooperation. “There is a need to boost cooperation between the two countries in a number of fields,” chairman of the Turkmengaz state concern, Baymurad Khodjamukhamedov, told a joint oil and gas conference in Baku on Tuesday. Khodjamukhamedov heads a delegation from the Central Asian state on its visit to the Az...... полностью

Azerbaijani Minister of Industry and Energy Natig Aliyev has dismissed reports claiming the resource-rich South Caucasus republic has turned down the West-backed project on building the NABUCCO pipeline that will pump gas to Europe while by-passing Russia. Aliyev said many are trying to politicize the issue, taking advantage of rising political tension in the South Caucasus region, but these attempts have not affected talks on the project. “Azerbaijan has a reliable export route – to Georgia,...... полностью

Azerbaijan’s trade turnover with Germany is growing, with both imports and exports posting growth in the first four months of 2008. The volume of goods the South Caucasus republic exported to Germany in January-April reached 584.5 million euros, or 135% over the same period of last year, the German embassy in Baku said. Imports of German commodities to Azerbaijan increased as well. The figure rose from 143.3 million euros in 2007 to 153.3 million euros this year, or a 7% increase.*... читать

The tourism season in Azerbaijan has been successful this year, the minister of culture and tourism said. Abulfas Garayev told reporters that in 2008 the number of tourists in recreation centers of the country has increased 10-12% as compared to last year. He also stressed certain problems related to the ongoing construction work on the main roads leading to the country’s regions of tourism importance. Garayev said that despite the problem, the number of tourists in Azerbaijan had reached 280...... полностью

Azerbaijan and Georgia are developing the first-ever joint online portal on their export potential. The portal will be presented after the publication of a catalogue on Azerbaijan’s export potential. The website to be designed in lieu of the catalogue will be supplied with a search system. The catalogue to be presented in early September includes approximately 70 Azerbaijani companies. The key goal of publishing the export catalogue is to boost the competitiveness of local goods and seek new m...... полностью

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR is considering signing a new production sharing agreement on the development of the onshore Balakhany oil field, SOCAR said Monday. But the source did not spell out the company with which talks are being held. 10 wells will be drilled at the unique field in 2008, compared to 13 wells drilled in 2007. The crude extracted at the Balakhany-Sabunchi-Ramana field is used to produce rare freeze-resistant types of oils. Oil is produced there from relatively insi...... полностью

Azerbaijan is strengthening by the year its energy security that is considered part of the country’s national security, an energy executive says. 22 billion KWt/hr of electricity was produced in the South Caucasus republic in 2007, with production to reach 25 billion KWt/hr by 2013, vice-president of the state-owned energy producer, Azerenergy, said. Marlen Asgarov said construction of power plants will be completed by the year-end in the country’s third largest city, Sumgayit, in the central ...... полностью

A major Honda automobile center opened in Azerbaijan on Friday. The world-famous brand is now available through YenimotoR LLC, the official and exclusive distributor in the country of Honda Motor Co. Ltd, the manufacturer of Honda automobiles. The newly-built center, which includes a section for car sales, maintenance and service centers, and a large warehouse of spare parts, was commissioned off the Baku-Sumgayit highway, according to advertising agency Publicis Azerbaijan. The YenimotoR dir...... полностью

President Ilham Aliyev has said Azerbaijan should make investment primarily in friendly countries. “As the country’s economic opportunities increase, we are investing in other states. A number of countries worldwide are expecting investment from Azerbaijan today,” Aliyev said in a meeting of Azerbaijani ambassadors in Baku on Monday. He said that in the past year alone, $2.5 billion has been invested in neighboring Turkey and Georgia, and the placement of funds in overseas markets continues....... полностью

Almost 19 million tons of oil were produced from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea in the first half of this year. The volume is 13.8% over January-June 2007, according to the BP-operated consortium Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC) which is tapping the field. Slightly over 3m tons of the oil was extracted from Chirag. Output from the field has increased 12.1%. Production made up 504,446 tons in June alone. Production at the Aze...... полностью

Azerbaijan’s state energy firm SOCAR and Hungarian MOL oil and gas company will step up cooperation on NABUCCO, a European Union-backed natural gas pipeline project. Talks on the project to export gas from the Caspian and Central Asia regions to European markets were held during SOCAR president Rovnag Abdullayev’s recent meeting with the MOL Group Chief Executive Officer Gyorgy Mosonyi. Mosonyi voiced confidence that Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany’s visit to Baku this week would c...... полностью

The Azerbaijani government and Russian giant Gazprom will launch “detailed dialog” on gas purchases from the South Caucasus republic in the coming days, Russian ambassador in Baku Vasili Istratov said Tuesday. Istratov said the terms for the imports would be determined during the upcoming discussions. He reminded that the issue was high on agenda of the top-level talks held during Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s official visit to Azerbaijan last week. The two countries’ presidents support...... полностью

A large-scale project on establishing a circular electric power exchange system between Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkey, Georgia and Russia is under consideration. Turkmenistan is also seeking to join the initiative, Azerbaijani Minister of Energy and Industry Natig Aliyev has said. “Creating the system will allow not only to exchange electricity but also to export it to Europe. Azerbaijan will thus gain access to the Turkish market,” he said after talks with Iranian Energy Minister Parviz Fattah in B...... полностью

Representatives of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia gathered in Baku on Tuesday to explore ways of speeding up the North-South transport corridor project – a major route to link Asia and Europe that has been delayed in the past years. An Iranian official has offered establishing an international consortium – a key legal aspect of the project realization which is high on agenda of the trilateral taskforce. “This would speed up commissioning of the route earmarked to link the railway networks of Ch...... полностью

The BP-operated Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil export pipeline (BTC) lifted at the weekend the 500th cargo of oil transported from the Sangachal terminal near Baku across Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey to Ceyhan. The 500th tanker – the St Helen, arrived at the Turkish Mediterranean port on Saturday morning and departed on the same day, June 14. The tanker took on board 630,000 barrels of crude oil belonging to Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR. The oil, which comes from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (...... полностью

The United States has requested that the Azerbaijani government launch gas production from deeper layers of available fields, a senior US official says. The US Department of State Eurasian Energy Diplomacy Coordinator, Steven Mann, said Washington was looking to increase output during Phase 2 of developing the gas-condensate field Shahdaniz in the Azerbaijan sector of the Caspian Sea, in an effort to eliminate European reliance on Russian supplies. The State Department official said the feasi...... полностью

Azerbaijan will cooperate with Oman and the United Arab Emirates in the admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO). The government will sign respective bilateral protocols with each country on May 6, an Economic Development Ministry official said. Adalat Muradov, who acts as secretary of the state commission on WTO admission, said such a document was already signed with Turkey in 2007. He noted that the Azerbaijani government continued bilateral talks on the accession to the group. ...... полностью