The Azerbaijan Agriculture Ministry suspended operation of over 20 companies engaged in production and import of alcoholic beverages, the Minister of Agriculture Ismet Abbasov has said, Trend reports.
There are 39 companies dealing with the import of alcoholic drinks, from which the activities of 29 of them has been suspended due to some reasons.
The Agriculture Ministry sent messages by the addresses, where the companies had been registered and it turned out, such companies do not exist at these addresses. The Minister said, the Tax Ministry, the Ministry of Economic Development and the State Customs Committee have been informed of these facts.
The same measure has been taken in regard to the companies involved in producing of the ethyl spirits and alcoholic drinks as well. The operation of 5 companies: В"Sharab-1В" JSC in Ismailli, Zaman producing company in Samuh, Nargilya Ltd. in Baku, Sharab-3 JSC in Agsu and Umid in Agstafa has been stopped temporarily.
Totally 30 companies producing alcoholic drinks are registered in Azerbaijan.
В"The main requirement to these companies, if they want to resume their operation is submitting annual reports on their activities to the Agriculture Ministry, he was quoted as saying.
Till now the Ministry issued licenses for producing beer to 7 companies, for 2 companies to produce cognac and wine, the licenses for 2 companies Alco Ltd. and Hyal Holding have been extended.