News in Brief

Japanese Speaker visit expected
A Japanese parliamentary delegation led by the Speaker is expected to pay an official visit to Azerbaijan, Japanese ambassador to Azerbaijan Toshiyuki Fujiwara has told AssA-Irada.
According to the diplomat, the date for the visit is still to be determined, as expansion of bilateral interparliamentary relations will be discussed during the visit.

President presents military honors  
President Aliyev issued a decree on Tuesday to award 163 military personnel of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces with orders and medals on the occasion of Army Day, June 26.
Twenty-two servicemen were awarded with the "Azerbaijan Banner" order, 21 with  "For Motherland", 7 "For Bravery", and 113 "For Military Service" medals.
Also among the awarded were Minister for Defense, Colonel General Safar Abiyev, getting the "Azerbaijan Banner" order and Chief of General Staff Nacmaddin Sadigov the "For Motherland" medal.

NATO workshop to open in Baku
A three-day NATO workshop, Roys-Roys, with participation of delegations from 41 world nations will open in Baku in November.
According to Vice Speaker and head of the Azerbaijani delegation to PA NATO Ziyafat Asgarov, Deputy Secretary General of the Parliamentary Assembly of  NATO Mr. Shelino will be on a visit to Baku early in July to resolve organizational issues.
"First and foremost, that is a chance to show and share opinions on development dynamics in Azerbaijan, the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Upper Qarabag, state of refugees, as well as problems of the country with delegates from 41 nations," Mr. Asgarov said, noting that holding the important event in Baku would be step a forward in Azerbaijan's relations with the PA NATO.

Premier has medical check-up in US
Prime Minister Artur Rasizada visited Washington, D.C. for a medical examination on June 14-19, a Cabinet source has told AssA-Irada.
Mr. Rasizada underwent a surgery operation on his eye this April and the current trip is for re-examination.

Speaker attends Petersburg Economic Forum 
An Azerbaijani delegation led by Speaker Murtuz Alasgarov attended the seventh economic forum opened in St.-Petersburg, Russia, on June 18.
The forum focused on attracting investments to CIS states, conducting reforms and forming a common economic zone in Europe. Delegates from 25 countries, including CIS countries, Baltic states and several European countries, as well as representatives from the United States and Japan, attended the event.
The Azerbaijani delegation, comprising MPs Ali Husseinov and Elton Mammadov, has been in St.-Petersburg since June 15 to participate in the meetings of CIS Parliamentary Assembly Council, as well as the Council of Europe's international parliamentary committee held prior to the Economic Forum.

NDI President expected
Foreign Minister of Azerbaijan Vilayat Quliyev met with Spokesman of the US National Democratic Institute (NDI) for Azerbaijan David Sip on Thursday. Updating the guest on the present-day status of cooperation with international organizations, Mr. Quliyev said the Azerbaijani government attached great importance to the relations. The Foreign Ministry has told AssA-Irada that Mr. Sip, in his turn, said the NDI had implemented a series of projects on holding free and fair elections in Azerbaijan, underlining that it will further cooperate with Azerbaijan in this direction.  The two men also discussed various issues related to the upcoming visit of NDI President Kenneth Wollack to Azerbaijan.

UNHCR assistant commissioner to visit Baku
UN Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Kamal Nurcan will pay a visit to Baku on July 5-8 to get closely familiarized with state of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDP), UNHCR Representative for Azerbaijan Bohdan Nahajlo has told AssA-Irada.
During the mission Mr. Nurcan is expected to meet state officials, including Deputy Premier, chairman of the State Committee on Refugees, Ali Hasanov. The Assistant Commissioner is reported to visit refugees settled down in Barda and Sumqayit.

ADB to allocate 22m USD to Azerbaijan
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will allocate a credit totaling 22m US dollars to Azerbaijan by the end of this year under a project on water supply or staving off the floods, the Bank's Baku Office has told AssA-Irada.
A final decision will be made after the Bank's Board of Directors discusses the projects. The 32-year grace credit will be repaid at 1 percent per annum in the first eight years and 1.5 per cent per annum in the subsequent years.  
At present, the ADB is implementing a 2.5m US dollar worth of grant project in Azerbaijan to construct houses for refugees in Mingacevir District.

Pakistan keen on expanding economic co-op  
A delegation of the Pakistani State Engineering Corporation are visiting Baku from June 23 to 27 on the invitation of Minister for Economic Development Farhad Aliyev to discuss possible expansion of bilateral industrial cooperation.
A source from the Cabinet of Ministers has told Azernews that the Pakistani mission will also hold a series of meetings with Azerbaijani government members and tour industrial enterprises.
The Azerbaijani government has drawn up various projects on cooperation in non-oil sector to forward them to the Pakistani delegation.

Azerbaijan not included in WB excessive debtors list
Unlike Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan is not included in the list of countries that have excessive debts to the World Bank (WB). The WB has a program to clear debts of countries, which owe to the bank too much. This program mainly applies to African nations, head of the WB Baku office Akbar Noman has told AssA-Irada.
Speaking about projects to be implemented in cooperation between Azerbaijan and the WB Akbar Noman said that loan covenants are expected to be signed shortly for the projects on Development of the educational system in Azerbaijan and Improvement of the water supply systems.

Japanese businessmen to visit Baku
A delegation of Japanese businessmen will visit Baku this fall, Japanese Ambassador to Azerbaijan Toshiyuki Fujiwara has told AssA-Irada.
According to the Ambassador, the composition of the delegation to include businessmen mainly involved in non-oil sector is being determined.
"The Azerbaijani-Japanese cooperation in the sphere of business does not cover only the oil sector. We are keen on expanding economic cooperation," Mr. Fujiwara said, stating large Japanese investments in Azerbaijan in the years to come.

Failure in payments to state budget
One trillion 993bn manats have been transferred to the state budget over the past five months, as the plan of payments to the treasury has been fulfilled by 97.6 percent. The figure is 48bn 593m manats less than the target. The expenses of the state budget were implemented by 94.1 percent.
A source from the National Bank of Azerbaijan has told AssA-Irada that the Ministry of Taxes has transferred 1trln 453bn manats to the state budget instead of 1trln 491bn manats, fulfilling the plan by 97.5 percent.
The State Customs Committee has transferred 381.5bn manats instead of 377.4bn manats to the state budget in January-May.         

Workshop on human development
A workshop on Human Development - CIS 7 was arranged at the Hyatt Regency Hotel of Baku on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Organized by the Ministry of Economic Development and the World Bank (WB), the two-day event discussed the WB's reports on human development in three CIS countries - Azerbaijan, Moldova and Tajikistan. Apart from the WB experts, governmental officials of Azerbaijan, as well as representatives of local NGOs attended the event.