News in Brief

Iraqi embassy to keep the public informed
The Iraqi embassy in Baku will conduct new conferences every two or three days to update the Azerbaijani community on ongoing developments in Iraq. The first conference is due on Wednesday, the embassy has told AssA-Irada.  Reportedly,  the tense situation or breakout of a war will have no affect on the embassy's activities and work regime.

Unified CIS border guarding
A decision to set up the united system for guarding borders of the CIS member countries has been approved at the 46th session of the Council of Commanders-in-Chief of Frontier Forces of the Commonwealth (CCCFF). The session participants have also agreed to strengthen control along volatile borderlines on CIS-adjacent areas in order to protect CIS states from drug and weapons traffic from Afghanistan. Addressing the session, Konstantin Totskiy, former chief of the Federal border service of Russia, now CCCFF chairman said that possible war on Iraq could affect adversely the security in southern borders of the CIS.

Canadian helicopter crashes at Baku airport
A Sikorsky-76 helicopter, owned by Canadian Helicopters, crashed on March 14, in a test flight to check the crew's professional availability. Upon landing on a runway, the helicopter caught on fire, which was put out by a rescue squad at Bina Airport. AzAL told AssA-Irada that there were no victims as the crew had got off the helicopter in time. The case is under investigation.The AIOC partners have rejected to fly with Mi-8 helicopters AzAL offered to use under the contract, and have preferred Sikorsky-76 vehicles, ranked as running lowest risks and best insured.

Saudi sacrificial meat for refugees
Saudi Arabia has set a quota of 5000 sheep, weighing over 50 tons, for Azerbaijan.
The Kingdom's embassy told AssA-Irada that so far Azerbaijan had received half of sacrificial meat to be distributed among refugees and IDPs under the Islamic Development Bank's special programme on the delivery of sacrificial meat to needy nations once the season of Hajj pilgrimage is over. Azerbaijan's quota has been maintained at 5000 sheep over the past three years.

Saudi fund to construct five schools
Terms of a preferential loan covenant to be issued by the Saudi Arabia Development Fund for the construction of five schools in Baku have been already agreed. The terms of the covenant were discussed in detail during talks between a working group of the Azerbaijani government and representatives of the fund in Riyadh. The Saudi embassy in Baku has told AssA-Irada that the loan covenant will be signed shortly in Baku or Riyadh. The schools are expected to be constructed and furnished by the end of the year using the loan worth 35.7m Saudi real or some 10m US dollar.

Azeri students in Iraq return
In his exclusive interview to an AssA-Irada correspondent, head of the State Committee on Religious Bodies Rafiq Aliyev said that due to the Iraqi crisis 12 out of 40 Azerbaijani students studying there had already returned, while the others would come back shortly. He went on to say that the government assumed all expenditures related to the students' return. According to Rafiq Aliyev, after all the students have returned to Azerbaijan, it will be ascertained which entities sent them to study in Iraq. Then, the issue of restoring their right to education will be considered. He added only six students had been sent through the Caucasus Muslims Clerical Office and they would proceed with their studies at Baku Islam University.

Woman commits suicide in metro
An unidentified woman committed suicide dropping herself to under a train in the Neftcilar metro station at 12:20 on March 15. The Nizami district police department told AssA-Irada that the identity of the woman, about 55-56, was still to be established. This accident caused a 15-minute break in the operation of the metro and then, traffic was restored. The case is under investigation.

Finance ministry to set up printing house
A project to set up a printing house at the Ministry of Finance has been drawn up. The ministry's department for foreign economic relations has told AssA-Irada that financing the project would be on the agenda of the Azerbaijan-US intergovernmental working group, to meet in the first half of April. To print securities, a state-run printing house is needed. The project implementation requires a total of US$8m.

7.6-per-cent rise in GDP
"GDP constituted 4,710bn in January-February in 2003, which is up by 7.6 per cent year-on-year", the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee told AssA-Irada. In the same timeframe, the industrial output has made up 3,598bn manats, topping the last year's figure by 5.5 per cent. Investments in fixed capital have been made to the tune of 1,952bn manats, which is up by 43.7 per cent from the figure in 2002.

Privatization fetches AZM4bn in Jan-Feb
The Ministry of Economic Development privatization department has told AssA-Irada that AZM4bn was transferred to the state budget from 135 small enterprises and facilities privatized in January and February 2003. The privatization of about 28,000 small enterprises and facilities thus far has added funds of AZM346.9bn to the state budget.

Individuals deposit AZM42bn
Individuals placed AZM442bn of savings with the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) as of 10 March this year, exceeding the figure as of 1 January by AZM42bn. The IBA press service has told AssA-Irada that in total AZM1,111bn was deposited with the bank as of 1 January this year, including AZM711bn by legal entities.

Preferential mortgages from national bank
The National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA) has drawn up a draft law on mortgage, which provides for favourable loans for housing of population, and submitted it to Milli Maclis (parliament) for consideration. The NBA press office told AssA-Irada that once the law on the National bank of Azerbaijan, which also includes the draft law on mortgage, is approved by Milli Maclis during its spring session, mortgage loans are to be available from the middle of the year. The draft stipulates that loans be issued for long term and on low interest rate.

Power substation for region
A 330/110-kV power substation was commissioned in Agcabadi District of Azerbaijan on Thursday. The Azarenerji press service has informed AssA-Irada that Azerbaijani experts and their counterparts from the Siemens company jointly carried out complex works for the construction and commissioning of the substation. The project was realized using loans from the European Bank of Reconstruction and the Islam development Bank under state guarantee.