News Digest

War delays Sah-Daniz inauguration
Presidents Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Ahmad Nejdet  Sezer of Turkey, and Eduard Shevernadze of Georgia were to participate in the official sanctioning ceremony of the Sah-Daniz project at Gulustan Palace of Baku on March 27. The Georgian embassy in Azerbaijan told AssA-Irada that the event had been rescheduled due to the actions in Iraq and the date of the ceremony to be held in April is being fixed through diplomatic channels.

Pressure group to picket US, British embassies
In protest to the war against Iraq, the Azerbaijanist Forces Union will conduct two pickets on 28 March. The Azerbaijan Islam Party has told AssA-Irada that the pickets to be held outside the British embassy at 11:00 and the US embassy at 12:30 will support the Iraqi people. The union has applied to the Baku Mayor's office for permission to picket.  The union includes the Islam, Social-Democrat and Vahdat parties.

Embassies on alert
Security systems at offices and institutions of state importance, and diplomatic corps accredited in Azerbaijan have been put on a closer watch, though the hostilities in Iraq have no direct impact on Azerbaijan.
The press office of the Interior Ministry told AssA-Irada that more police have been involved in guarding foreign embassies. In the meantime, the staff of the protection regiment have shifted to a special work regime.

Coalition planes to refuel at Bina airport
Baku has allowed its airspace to be used by warplanes of the US-led anti-Iraq coalition, as well as Bina airport for refueling purposes. President of the Azerbaijani State Airlines, AzAl, Cahangir Asgarov told AssA-Irada that though US warplanes had not entered our airspace so far, the airport had already started receiving aircraft carrying humanitarian aid. Noting that due to the hostilities in the Gulf, Eastern destined air liners by several companies of eastern European nations would be refueling at Bina airport, AzAl president said that talks are ongoing with Singapore on the issue. Asgarov stressed that security systems installed at the airport are better than those in many countries, and work will be done to make them ever better.

Kuwaiti agency postpones talks 
The Islam Development Bank (IDB) and the Development Agency of Kuwait had planned to conduct a roundtable conference on investing opportunities in Azerbaijan at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on 25-26 March to be attended by heads of the economic development, finance, taxes ministries, customs and other interested committees. The Ministry of Economic Development told AssA-Irada that the strike on Iraq had compelled the Kuwaiti party to put off the event till a more convenient time. Talks on the issue are under way with donor organizations and the exact date of the meeting will be announced shortly.

Armenians release schoolboys
Famil Mammadov, 14, Sarxan Mammadov, 13, and Cavid Israfilov, 15, accidentally crossed the border in the Qaymaqli village of Qazax District on March 22 while walking through the outskirts of the village. Two of the children approached Armenian servicemen who called them in Azeri, but Cavid Israfilov ran away from the site and informed villagers of the incident. Commanders of Armenian and Azerbaijani military units in that region started talks on Sunday over the return of  the schoolchildren taken captive. A spokesperson for the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry told AssA-Irada that the captive schoolboys were returned to the Azerbaijani side at 16:00 on Monday. Representatives of the International Red Cross Committee also took part in the repatriating process.

No preferential loans from WB after 2006
The World Bank is to make changes in the terms of loans to Azerbaijan after 2006. The World Bank Office in Baku told AssA-Irada that preferential loans are available for countries with GDP of less than US$800 per capita. As of the end of 2002, this index constituted US$755 in Azerbaijan, and is set to exceed US$800 next year. Nevertheless, the World Bank leadership have decided to prolong the term of preferential credit to Azerbaijan until 2007, as rises in oil production contributes heavily to the growth of the country's GDP.