Tag Archives: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan and Iraq pledge oil development

JUNE 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – At a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan’s energy ministry pledged to help Iraq explore for more oil.

The joint agreement was important because it underlined Azerbaijan’s determination to play a greater role in regional affairs. Iraq has been looking for partners to explore for more oil deposits and, although this agreement doesn’t actually put an exploration phase in motion, it does lay important groundwork for one.

Natig Aliyev, Azerbaijan’s energy minister, said: “We’re talking about investing in Iraq. We plan to choose there one of the projects, that is, an oilfield, and will work on it. In turn, Iraqi companies have been invited to participate in projects in Azerbaijan. I’m sure this collaboration will be productive.”

Azerbaijan has assumed an increasingly important role in the region.

It is seen by more turbulent neighbours as a stable, prosperous country which has been able to balance conflicting regional issues and develop its oil sector.

Azerbaijan has hosted Afghan government delegations and promised to play a role in developing government institutions there, Israel considers Azerbaijan to be a regional ally and Baku has also rebuilt relations with Tehran over the last couple of years.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 234, published on June 4 2015)

Armenia to send team to Baku

MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia confirmed it will send a team to the inaugural European Games in Baku next month. Azerbaijan and Armenia are officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh, now controlled by Armenia-backed forces. Some athletes wanted to boycott the event.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

RFE/RL quits Azerbaijan

MAY 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) officially closed its office in Baku, 6 months after Azerbaijani police raided it. Relations between Azerbaijan and the West have worsened over the past year.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

HRW wants more pressure on Azerbaijan

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The New York-based Human Rights Watch said EU leaders should do more to pressure Azerbaijan into releasing journalists, human rights defenders and critics of the government from prison. Azerbaijan has detained and imprisoned dozens of opposition activists over the past few years.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

TeliaSonera is transparent in Azerbaijan

MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – TeliaSonera, Sweden’s biggest mobile phone operator, said it has been open and transparent about the way it bought a stake in Azerbaijan’s Azercell in 2008. It made the statement after TV stations reported that it bought the stake from the Azerbaijani government for $180m, far less than the estimated market value.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Azerbaijani capital tears down panelling after fire

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – After a fire ripped through a Baku apartment block and killed at least 16 people earlier this month, the authorities ordered decorative panels which had been used to smarten the city ahead of the European Games next month to be torn down.

Media reported that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev ordered the polyurethane panels to be removed .

Azerbaijan is keen to show off Baku and the country during the European Games. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that some Azerbaijan residents started to rip off the foam panelling before the authorities had agreed for it to be taken down.

“It’s stupid to put up with this in silence. We have to act,” RFE/RL quoted one Baku resident as saying on Facebook. “We have to dismantle this idiotic facing. Life is worth fighting for.”

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Azerbaijan backs Caspian route

MAY 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a boost for EU aspirations to pump gas from Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan said that although the countries which ring the Caspian Sea still argue over ownership, it didn’t see any problems building a pipeline across it, media reported. The EU is keen to diversify its gas supplies away from Russia.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

BP repairs oil platform in Azerbaijan’s Caspian Sea

MAY 21 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – BP suspended operations for 22 days at its West Azeri platform in the Caspian Sea for planned maintenance work. The Azerbaijani government has put BP under pressure to maintain oil output at its fields.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Azerbaijan and Russia push for closer ties

MAY 25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – The foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Russia met in Moscow to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations, once again underlining how Azerbaijani foreign policy has shifted away from the West.

At the meeting Azerbaijani foreign minister and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov signed a commitment to hold a series of consultations and meetings over the next couple of years.

Mr Lavrov described Azerbaijan as a strategic partner and said that trade between the two countries had increased by 16% last year.

Of course, Russia has to tread a fine diplomatic line in the South Caucasus where Azerba- ijan and Armenia are still officially at war over the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh. Armenia is a firm Russian ally and hosts a major Russian military base. It is also a member of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.

Perhaps as a teaser, Mr Mammadyraov said in an interview after the meeting that although Azerbaijani would consider joining the Eurasian Economic Union, it could never actually become a member if Armenian-backed forces occupied Nagorno-Karabakh.

“If Armenia withdraws its troops, if the borders are opened, if there is a normali- zation of the situation, if there is an economic component between Armenia and Azerbaijan, who knows what will happen tomorrow,” he told the Russia 24 TV channel.

The Eurasian Economic Union is a Kremlin pet project. Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Belarus are also members.

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)

Azerbaijani traders grumble about European Games

BAKU/Azerbaijan, MAY 28 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) — For 20 years Sugra, a weather-beaten 72-year-old, has pulled up vegetables, and picked off fruit, that she has grown in her small yard in the village of Sabirabad. She collects them together and brings them to market in Baku, 100km away.

The European Games, set for next month in Baku, will change that, though.

“We were told that vehicles from the regions will be allowed in Baku only from 10pm to 5am during the Games. This makes our work very complicated,” she said. “Why do I even need this Games? How will I sell my stuff? I have to go to Baku, in my town, I can’t sell all these.”

The authorities in Baku have said that they are concerned about traffic jams building up in the city during the European Games. Limiting cars and lorries from the provinces will reduce these jams.

Ziyafet, 44, who sells vegetables in the next door to Sugra Guliyeva said the police officer had already warned her to stay away from the city when the Games are taking place.

“I will lose contacts with my costumers,” she said. “Some want chicken, some want milk. I have to refuse them all.

These insights are important. The government is keen to showcase Azerbaijan through the inaugural European Games but human rights activists have accused it of cracking down on dissenters during the build up to the event.

But it is not only market traders who are grumbling. Taxi driver Akif, 36, said they had been told that they cannot work during the Games.

Only specific taxis, the purple London Cabs, will be allowed in the city.

“When we heard about the games, we were glad that this might give business a boost as many people will visit the city and we will have more costumers,” he said. “Now we are told we won’t be allowed to work. This is a huge loss for us. I don’t know how I will feed my family.”

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(News report from Issue No. 233, published on May 28 2015)