News in Brief

Aliyev not to attend Almaty conference
An international conference, Peace and Understanding, will be held on February 13 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, initiated by the Kazakh government. The Afghan, Kirgiz, Tajik, Turkish and Azerbaijani heads of state have been invited to the conference. The Azerbaijani Presidential Administration has informed AssA-Irada that Heydar Aliyev will not attend the event instead Foreign Minister Vilayat Quliyev will represent Azerbaijan there.
The conference intends to study ways of addressing existing problems among peoples, civilizations and religions through dialogue.

Caspian working group to meet
The eighth meeting of the Caspian working group, including Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran, is scheduled for later this month.
Reliable sources have told AssA-Irada that the meeting will continue discussions over the wording of an agreement on the Caspian legal status.  A date this year for the second Caspian summit has not been ruled out.
In the meantime, representatives of the four coastal nations, except Iran, are expected to attend a global conference, Strategy for the Future Success of World Energetics, in Houston, USA, on February 9. The conference will also touch upon the Caspian question.

Tatar delegation to visit Azerbaijan
A Tatar governmental delegation is expected to visit Azerbaijan in the first ten days of March. Official sources have told AssA-Irada that the visit will aim to broaden economic-commercial, scientific-technical and humanitarian cooperation between Azerbaijan and Tataristan, a part of the Russian Federation. In addition, prospects for agricultural and industrial relations are to be discussed in bilateral talks. The Tatar delegation will meet with Azerbaijani President Heydar Aliyev, Prime Minister Artur Rasizada, First Deputy Prime Minister Abbas Abbasov, Minister of Economic Development Farhad Aliyev and Minister of Agriculture Irsad Aliyev.

24th anniversary of Iranian revolution to be marked
The Iranian embassy in Azerbaijan is planning to organize a ceremony at the Gulustan Palace in Baku on February 11 to mark the 24th anniversary of the Iranian revolution. Attending the ceremony will be officials and diplomats.
Led by Ayatollah Khomeini, the revolution overthrew the Shah's regime on February 11, 1979. The Iranian people have since celebrated this date as Victory Day.

Azerbaijan, Georgia border demarcation talks continue
The next round of bilateral talks over the delimitation and demarcation of the Azerbaijani-Georgian border is due in Tbilisi in late February while experts prepare the agenda for the regular session of the intergovernmental commission on the delimitation and demarcation. The agenda will include defining some sections of the border in the Qazax District of Azerbaijan.  A previous session of the commission was held in Baku in December. Co-chairing the commission are Deputy Foreign Minister Xalaf Xalafov on the Azerbaijani side and head of the State Border Service Department Chkheidze on the Georgian side. A diplomatic source has told AssA-Irada that the session is scheduled for February 26-27.

Municipality training due
The Democratic Elections Assistance Center will organize three-day training-workshops for municipalities in nine regions of Azerbaijan, including Baku, late in February. The center has told AssA-Irada that the courses will touch upon preparing social-economic plans, environmental programs and business plans, sound local self-management, rehabilitation of territory and other issues. This project is implemented in co-operation with the Warsaw-based Partners organization to improve the level of training in the municipalities.
At the end of the training on the countryside, two municipal officers are to be selected in each district to attend five-day training courses in Baku delivered by specialists from Poland.

WB to assess auditing potential
The World Bank (WB) Baku office told AssA-Irada that it was planning to conduct an assessment of  auditing potential in Azerbaijan as audit companies active in the country had applied to participate in WB projects. The procedure will involve assessing  local and foreign audit companies operating in Azerbaijan.

BP Business Center increases funds for SMEs
BP Business Center has increased funds spent on Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SME) development by 36.2 per cent last year, topping the planned amount by 11.2 per cent, the center has told AssA-Irada. The number of local enterprises reached 292 in 2002, of which 207 were SMEs. The logistics management section of BP Business Center is nearing completion of a report on defining expenditures on SMEs for 2003. A 50-per-cent increase in funds is expected.

GUUAM customs heads to meet in Kiev
GUUAM heads of customs services are expected to meet in Kiev on February 11. A spokesman for the Azerbaijani State Customs Committee told AssA-Irada that US experts would also join the meeting to be held in a format of GUUAM-USA framework programme cooperation.
The US has allocated funds of $6m for updating GUUAM countries' customs systems.

Parliament to adopt economic laws
Milli Maclis (the Azerbaijani parliament) is expected to pass a number of economic laws in 2003. The Anti-Corruption law was passed on the first reading. The spring session will discuss the laws on Lotteries and Licensing, while laws on Banks and Banking, Special Economic Zones, and Investments are due to be passed this year.

Micro-finance Bank becomes ABA member
The Azerbaijani Banks Association (ABA) has told AssA-Irada that the Azerbaijani Micro-finance Bank was admitted to the ABA. Thus, the number of ABA members has reached 45. Only one bank - the Ganca Bank out of 46 banks active in the country is not an ABA member. According to the association, this bank will become an ABA member shortly as it has applied for membership.

Over 50 German companies operate in Azerbaijan
The trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Germany exceeded $110m in 2002, as Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Yaqub Eyyubov has told AssA-Irada. Currently, more than 50 German companies operate in Azerbaijan that has received funds of $250m as a result of bilateral cooperation.

Barmek goes ahead with reconstruction
The Barmek Azerbaijan Company has informed AssA-Irada that it will install a 110-kWt and a 35-kWt electricity substation in addition to reconstructing substations in the Mastaga settlement of Baku. Furthermore, Barmek will either replace or repair power transformers, substations and overhead electricity wiring in the Baku suburbs.