Last week review (Oct.22-26)

Oct.22

USAID identifies priorities for support of projects in Azerbaijan

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has developed new projects for Azerbaijan, the USAID Mission Director in Azerbaijan Michael Greene said.

"We prefer to support projects that focus mainly on the diversification of Azerbaijani economy, which is determined by the head of the state as the main direction of development. From this point of view, special attention is paid to agricultural direction that is both attractive and has the potential to provide technical and financial support for small farmers, small businesses engaged in processing, "head of USAID mission stated.

According to him, improvement of legislation, in particular the adoption of the Code of competition, is required for further development of business in the country.

"USAID projects in the field of agricultural development in Azerbaijan are being implemented over the past few years, but for the implementation of new planned projects, we started to define the sub-sectors, which will be given more attention, those are particularly the fields of dairy production, fisheries, fruit and nuts" Greene added.

Oct.23

Azerbaijan remains among top 10 countries in property rights field

According to the annual World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).ranking 'Doing Business - 2013' Azerbaijan remains among the top 10 countries with the best situation in the field of the registration of property rights. According to this indicator Azerbaijan ranks ninth among the 185 countries covered by the rating. Compared with last year's results, Azerbaijan has achieved the greatest success in such subheadings as the tax administration (76th place against 79th last year) and the resolution of insolvency (95th against 99th). In general, Azerbaijan holds 67th position in the ranking. Azerbaijan's rating was formed from the following indicators: business registration - 18th place, taxation - 76th , International trade - 169th , property - ninth, building permits - 177th , credit - 53rd , the resolution of insolvency - 95th , enforcement of contracts - 25th , defence of investors' rights - 25th and connection to the electricity system - 175th .

Azerbaijan introduces European standards of land evaluation

Azerbaijan has introduced European standards in land assessment with the support of Latvia and Sweden.

State Committee for Land and Cartography of Azerbaijan together with the State Real Estate Registration, Cadastre and Cartography of Sweden (Isvec Lantmeteriet) and the Latvian civil service on land issues implementing a joint twinning project.

"The purpose of the twinning project is to assess the implementation of the land in accordance with European standards. Countries wishing to join the European Union, are taking steps to implement the evaluation of land according to the European system," Mammadov said.

Baku is hosting event dedicated to the implementation of the twinning project, which is attended by representatives of state structures of Azerbaijan, Latvia and Sweden, as well as ambassadors of these countries in Azerbaijan on Tuesday.

WB restructures Real Estate Registration Project in Azerbaijan

The World Bank (WB) conducted a restructuring of Registration of Real Estate Project, which is carried out in Azerbaijan, the WB Baku office told Trend.

A specific works, which were planned to carry out through the means of the WB, will be funded through the liberated funds allocated by the State as a stake in the project," the representative of the bank said.

These works also include the establishment of cadastral maps.

The project designed for 2008-2012, has been extended until 2014 as a result of restructuring.

World Bank provided a loan of $ 30 million for the implementation of the project, 16 million of which is provided to the State Committee for the implementation of activities in the field of cartography.

Azerbaijan has mastered 9.137 million of this loan of the World Bank.

Expenditure for social protection triples in Azerbaijan for six years

Azerbaijan has a good economic base for the reforms in social protection and the formation of social policy in the right direction, chairman of the Azerbaijani State Social Protection Fund Salim Muslimov said at the round table on "Social Security: theory and reality, global experience and perspectives" on Tuesday. The representatives of the state fund, MPs and academics have attended the discussions..

Oct.24

Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry installs information kiosks at Baku Metro stations

Azerbaijani Taxes Ministry has started to install information kiosks at stations of Baku Metro, the Ministry told Trend on Wednesday.

Electron device with touch screen is designed to provide access to information resources of the Ministry. The devices are available only in a few Metro stations yet.

By using the information kiosks, taxpayers will be able to receive free information on the Taxes Ministry's Internet site regarding with tax laws.

Potential shareholders of first private credit bureau in Azerbaijan sign memorandum

Nine Azerbaijani banks, which are potential shareholders of the first private credit bureau in the country, have signed a memorandum of understanding, the Coordinator of IFC project on strengthening of the financial infrastructure in Central Asia and Azerbaijan Teymur Eybatov said. Access Bank, AGBank, Azerbaycan Senaye Bankı, Bank Respublika, Demir Bank, Muganbank, PASHA Bank, Turan Bank and Yapı Kredit Bank Azerbaijan wished to become the shareholders of the credit bureau. The chairman of the Executive Committee created by the bureau was elected at the last meeting of potential shareholders. Rauf Akhundov, who is a Deputy Chairman Demir Bank took the position..

"One of the decisions made at the last meeting of the Executive Committee, was to begin preparations for sending RFI (Request for Information) from technical partners on the intention to become a partner in the creation of a private credit bureau" Eybatov said.

Azerbaijan ranks fifth in terms of risk of infection through Internet

Azerbaijan ranks fifth among the 20 countries that faced the greatest risk of infection over the Internet during the three quarter, the survey of Kaspersky Lab virus activity indicates on Wednesday. Some 53.1 percent of users faced with a risk of infection in the country, which is 1.9 percent less than in the previous quarter. The top 10 countries with a score of 61.1 - 46.1 percent includes: Tajikistan, Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. The company has calculated the number of Web-security use per country within the month to assess the risk of infection through the Internet in different countries worldwide.

World Bank forecasts significant increase in per capita income in Azerbaijan

In the near future, per capita income in Azerbaijan may reach $20,000 a year.

Senior Economist of the World Bank (WB) Rashmi Shankar made this statement at the international conference on 'Middle Class in Azerbaijan: social, economic, political dynamics and prospects' in Baku on Wednesday. "Azerbaijan has created a model of economic development, meaning that in the foreseeable future, per capita income of the country may reach $20,000" Shankar said.

Oct.25

Azerbaijani Transport Ministry signs contract for new port construction

The Azerbaijani Transport Ministry has announced the results of an international tender for work and services to construct and equip a new port complex in the area of Alat, a statement posted in the newspaper Republic reports. Azerkerpu is the winner of the tender announced on March 7.

According to the report, the agreement was signed between the Transport Ministry and the company on October 19.

The construction of the new international port was launched in November of 2010. It is located 65 kilometres from Baku in the town of Alat.

The construction will be implemented in three stages and completed in 2015. The first stage sees the construction of two ferry and three cargo berths for containers, 'ro ro' type vessels and ordinary (universal) dry cargo. The second stage envisages the construction of three more cargo berths and the third construction is for two additional cargo berths. The port will be able to receive up to 11.6 million tons of goods.

Oct.26

Azerbaijan expands cooperation in customs area

Azerbaijan and France have discussed prospects of cooperation between the two countries in the field of customs.

Various issues were covered during the meeting of committee chairman Aydin Aliyev with the French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Pascal Monnier.

They discussed developing human resources and strengthening customs areas to maintain the trend of growth in bilateral trade between the two countries, as well as prospects in other areas.

Aydin Aliyev stressed the positive impact of French companies on the development of trade and economic areas of Azerbaijan's non-oil sector.

During the meeting held on October 22, the head of the State Customs Committee also talked about customs isses with the Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan Rafael Harpaz.