SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan has applied to host matches at the 2020 European football championships, media reported. Last year European football’s governing body, UEFA, announced that several cities will host matches for Euro 2020, one of the biggest football tournaments in the world. Baku is building a 68,000-seat stadium.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Interest in investing on the Baku Stock Exchange is growing, local media quoted Rufat Aslani, the Azerbaijani government official in charge of regulating securities, as saying. Mr Aslani said three IPOs were planned by the end of 2013, including Goldenpay, an online payment systems, which plans to sell 10% of its stock.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s railway network modernisation plan is picking up speed.
Earlier this year, the World Bank said it would finance an upgrade to Azerbaijan’s rail network. Azerbaijani officials said an upgrade was vital to speed up the route, used to shift wagons full of goods from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.
One of the areas that needed attention was signalling. Now, Azerbaijan’s government has said it has awarded a contract worth $288m to a consortium including Canada’s Bombardier. Bombardier will install new signalling equipment along the 503km track running from Baku to Boyuk Kesik on the Georgian border. This is roughly 17% of Azerbaijan’s total railway track.
Media also reported that French train maker Alstom, and other companies, are looking to win business in Azerbaijan off the back of the rail modernisation plan.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 14 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The European Broadcasting Union is investigating allegations that Azerbaijan offered bribes to members of this year’s Eurovision jury, media reported. Eurovision is a major TV song contest. Many European countries view it as way of promoting themselves. Azerbaijan won the contest in 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government plans to build 23 small hydropower stations, the ministry of industry and energy said. As Azerbaijan’s economy grows so does pressure on its power grid. Currently, hydropower generates around 12% of Azerbaijan’s power, a percentage it has said it wants to increase.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s government has been talking up efforts to boost its non-oil sector, but energy exports have still accounted for 95% of the value of all its exports so far this year, media quoted Azerbaijan’s Central Bank as saying. Analysts have said Azerbaijan needs to diversify its economy.
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(News report from Issue No. 152, published on Sept. 18 2013)
SEPT. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — During a trip by Afghan officials to Baku, the Azerbaijani energy minister, Natik Aliyev, said that Azerbaijan may help build a series of small oil refineries in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan officials have been talking up the prospect of investing more heavily in Afghanistan’s energy sector.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — There was never much doubt but, eager to clarify after Armenia’s earlier announcement, local media quoted an unnamed source close to the Azerbaijani government as saying that Azerbaijan does not plan on joining Russia’s Customs Union. Armenia said it will join Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan in the Customs Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Azerbaijan’s Central Election Committee (CEC) has registered 21 candidate nominations for the presidential election on Oct. 9, media reported. The CEC has to approve the nominations before the start of campaigning on Sept. 16. The election is likely to hand incumbent President Ilham Aliyev another five-year term.
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(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)
SEPT. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An increase in business outside Azerbaijan’s dominant energy-sector will boost overall GDP growth rates next year, Azerbaijani economy minister Shahin Mustafayev said. The economy will grow by 6.7% in 2014, Mr Mustafayev said, up from a predicted 5% this year and 2.2% in 2012.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 151, published on Sept. 11 2013)