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Last week review (Oct. 26-30)

Analysis Materials 3 November 2015 14:08 (UTC +04:00)

Oct. 26

President Aliyev hails bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and Japan

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Japanese Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization, Total Reform of Social Security and Tax, Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Akira Amari.

President Ilham Aliyev noted with pleasure the fact that the Japanese delegation included businessmen from big companies.

During the meeting, the sides exchanged views over the issues related to the development of cooperation between Azerbaijan and Japan in energy, petrochemical, educational, healthcare, agricultural and other spheres.

World Bank expects single-digit inflation in Azerbaijan

The World Bank (WB) expects a 7.5 percent inflation in Azerbaijan in 2015, said the report of the World Bank "Low Commodity Prices and Weak Currencies" posted on the bank's website. The growth rate of the consumer price index in Azerbaijan will be 4.1 percent in 2016 and 2017, according to the bank's forecasts.

The bank forecasts growth of the agricultural sector by an average of 4.7 percent in the next three years. Thus, according to the expectations of the World Bank, this figure will be 6 percent in 2015, 4.2 percent in 2016 and 4 percent in 2017.

The growth of the industrial sector is projected at 2 percent in 2015, 1.5 percent in 2016, 1.4 percent in 2017, while the growth of the services sector will be 3.8 percent, 3.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
In the next three years, the World Bank expects the average rate of GDP growth of the country at 2.4 percent: 2 percent growth in 2015, 2.6 percent growth in 2016 and 2.7 percent growth in 2017.

Oct. 27

Germany to support wind energy development in Azerbaijan

Germany will support Azerbaijan in the wind energy development, a board member of the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce Florian Schroeder said.

He made the remarks at the conference "Wind Energy and Grid Integration" in Baku.

He said that the conference, which takes place with the participation of leading German companies in the field of alternative energy and the State Agency on Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources of Azerbaijan, will become an important step in the development of dialogue between the two countries in this field.

1.5 million jobs created in Azerbaijan over 12 years

As many as 1.5 million jobs have been created in Azerbaijan since 2003, Mammad Musayev, president of Azerbaijan's National Confederation of Entrepreneurs (Employers) Organizations said. He made the remarks during the conference on "The new stage in the development of entrepreneurship: targets and opportunities".

He added that 87,000 jobs have been created in the country in the first nine months of 2015 and 67,000 of them are permanent jobs.

Azerbaijan, Montenegro sign two agreements

The governments of Azerbaijan and Montenegro signed two agreements.

The agreement on customs cooperation and mutual assistance between the governments of Azerbaijan and Montenegro was signed by Azerbaijani Chairman of the State Customs Committee Aydin Aliyev and Montenegrin Minister of Economy Vladimir Kavaric.

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the Environment was signed by Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Huseyngulu Bahirov and Montenegrin Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Branimir Gvozdenović.

The agreements were signed during the meeting of a delegation, headed by Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović with Azerbaijani Prime Minister Artur Rasizade.

Japanese companies ready for long-term co-op with Azerbaijan in oil, gas projects

The Japanese companies Itochu and İnpex intend to continue cooperation with Azerbaijan within the framework of a project to develop the Azeri-Chirag-Guneshli (ACG) block of oil fields in the Caspian Sea, the Minister of Economic Recovery of Japan Akira Amari said at a meeting with Energy Minister of Azerbaijan Natig Aliyev.

During the meeting, Aliyev highly appreciated the activities of Itochu and Inpex within the framework of the ACG contract as well as the participation of Mitsui company in the project of development of "Dan Ulduzu-Ashrafi" unit of deposits.

Oct. 28

President Aliyev attends opening of Jeyranbatan ultra-filtration water purification facility complex

A ceremony to open Jeyranbatan ultra-filtration water purification facility complex of "Azersu" Open Joint-Stock Company has been held in Absheron district. President Ilham Aliyev attended the ceremony.

Jeyranbatan ultra-filtration water purification facility complex and the Jeyranbatan-Zira water pipeline project will provide regular and high-quality drinking water to residential areas in Baku and the Absheron peninsula.

Azerbaijani banks prefer to make money on extending scope of customers

The middle class in Azerbaijan increasingly wants to receive the level of high net customer banking services, deputy chairman of the Ukrgasbank Alexey Alexandrov said.

He made the remarks during the annual Affluent & Private Banking Forum of top managers of the leading CIS banks in Baku.

He said that a similar trend is observed in many countries of the world.

"If the banks are not able to make money on a single customer, one needs to earn on their replication, that is, to work with more customers with lower incomes," he said. "Unfortunately, the [bank] card for customers of high net class and middle class is the same. The deposit is no different for a millionaire and owner of 100,000."

Federation Council ratifies Russia-Azerbaijan agreements on investment protection

The Russian Federation Council ratified the Russian-Azerbaijani intergovernmental agreement on mutual protection of investments, TASS reported.

The document was signed in Astrakhan on September 29, 2014. Its purpose is to ensure the favorable regime for investors of the two countries.

Azerbaijan improves position in WB's Doing Business 2016

Azerbaijan has improved its position in the Doing Business-2016 annual ranking of the World Bank (WB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) by 17 points, said the report "Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency".

A new method of calculation referred to as "the principle of distance to frontier score" (this measure shows how close each economy is to global best practices in business regulation) was used when compiling the rating, Baku office of the World Bank told Trend.

Taking into account the updating of indicators, Azerbaijan took the 63rd place in 2015, as in 2014, said the report. According to the new methodology, last year's figure of Azerbaijan distance was 66.65 points, this year the figure is 67.8 points, the authors of the report said.

Oct. 29

Azerbaijan invites UK investors to oil engineering sphere

Azerbaijan is interested in developing cooperation with the UK in the oil engineering sphere, the country's deputy minister of economy and industry Sahil Babayev said.

He made the remarks during the Azerbaijan-UK business forum in Baku.

"Today, we want the Azerbaijani and UK companies to discuss more concrete projects during the business meetings, so that following today's meetings, to lay the foundation of new projects and cooperation in this sphere", Babayev said.

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