News

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev expressed his satisfaction with the signed intergovernmental agreement on Nabucco project.

Action on poverty can benefit business performance, as well as building a better world in which to operate.

G20 leaders met for the second time in London on 2 April, as the global economic crisis began to crash across the borders of poor countries with ever-greater severity.

On June 16, Azerbaijan launches initial placement of percentage nominal bonds of the Azerbaijan Mortgage Fund (AMF) under the Central Bank worth 15 million manat.

The capacity of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline will be increased from current 1.2 million barrels to 1.6 million barrels per day in 2010, Azerbaijani Industry and Energy Minister Natig Aliyev said.

The Committee on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative ("EITI") established by the Government of Azerbaijan to implement its obligations taken at the conference on EITI held in June 2003 in London, on 12 June, 2009 announced the release of the Government’s tenth EITI report (Jan-Dec 2008 assertion) audited by Deloitte and Touche, the independent Aggregator.

Top financial officials from the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations on Friday issued an upbeat evaluation of the global financial crisis, describing signs that markets were stabilizing around the world and warning that it was necessary to devise “exit strategies” to disengage from stimulus programs that have been put in place.

NATO has not yet had ideas to ensure security of the Nabucco gas pipeline, Head of the NATO Economic Security Michael Gaul said in Baku on June 10.

“The region of UN Economic Commission for Europe, which united 56 countries from Europe, North America and CIS, has passed into the deepest backlog period of the economy in 2008 since the World War II”, said UN report “The Economic Commission for Europe in 2008-2009: economic situation in Europe, North America and CIS”.

Moldova On June 4, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDSI) held five meetings with leaders of a coalition of business associations to develop a business proposal for an anti-crisis program, based on the priorities laid out in the 2009 National Business Agenda.

Azerbaijan The Entrepreneurship Development Foundation (EDF) organized a televised discussion on the ANS-TV channel regarding institutional reforms needed for small business development.

Canceling exemption of import wheat from VAT, imposed in 2007 with a prolongation of a year, will not lead to a rise on wheat prices, Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Ismat Abbasov said. The wheat import was exempted from the VAT in July 2007 which enables bread producers to buy wheat $50 cheaper in each ton.

Prices on the Azerbaijani real estate market dropped slightly - by 15 percent in late 2008, Head of teh State Real Estate Register Service Arif Garashov said on May 14.

In the first quarter, the import of cars to Azerbaijan reduced 2.3 percent, said the Head of the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan Aydin Aliyev on May 24.

The Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation and Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius met in Vilnius on May 15. The parties discussed to further develop economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and Lithuania and joint interest in implementing giant energy projects, Premier's Advisor Riddas Yasulenis said.

The Azerbaijani government offers to amend the simplified taxation system in 2010 which covers entrepreneurs with turnover less than 22,500 manat at the moment.

Russia-Azerbaijan gas agreement will help diversify energy supplies and resolve energy security problems, RIA-Novosti quoted Russian President Dmitry Medvedev as saying.

A meeting between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is being held in the Russian President's country residence, the RIA Novosti reported.

Latvian businessmen offered joint dairy production to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Fund (AZPROMO) President Rahim Huseynov said at the Azerbaijani-Latvian business-forum on April 17. The forum is held in Baku with Latvian Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins's participation.

The International Monetary Fund on Thursday forecast a prolonged, deep global recession, a "sluggish" recovery, and weak capital flows to emerging economies that would hammer Eastern Europe. "The current recession is likely to be unusually long and severe and the recovery sluggish," the IMF said in releasing two chapters from its twice-yearly World Economic Outlook (WEO).

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Economic Development has today hosted a business forum, bringing together businesspeople of Azerbaijan and Latvia.

Washington's fixed idea to diversify gas supplies to Europe bypassing Russia forces U.S. to take steps to address EU's important problem - ensuring security of energy supplies via Turkey.

Azerbaijan plays a decisive role as a bridge between Europe and Central Asia, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Ušackas told journalists in Baku on April 8.

A Memorandum on mutual understanding was signed by the Azerenergy company of Azerbaijan, the State Power System of Georgia and the Power Energy Transmission Corporation of Turkey within the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey energy bridge project.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said Tuesday it invested a record 1.1 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) in eastern Europe in the first quarter to fight the financial crisis.

Global Finance magazine has announced itsannual awards for the Best Banks in Emerging Markets.

The United States must continue supporting Azerbaijan to diversify its energy supplies, New Mexico State Governor Bill Richardson said.

The world will begin to emerge from the economic crisis in the first quarter of 2010, and the recovery will start in the US housing market, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted Monday as saying.

At the Summit in Strasbourg and Kehl, the 28 NATO Heads of State and Government vowed to further step up efforts for energy security for partners and allies, according to the final declaration.

Forty companies from 10 countries will participate in the eighth international Transport, Transit and Logistics TransСaspian Exhibition, Iteca Caspian said.

The Nabucco gas pipeline remains a priority projects for the EU, European Commissioner for Energy Andris Piebalgs said at a meeting with a delegation of the Azerbaijani-Turkish Businessmen Association (ATIB) in Brussels, the ATIB reported on March 30.

The authorized capital stock of the Azerbaijan-Kuwait Investment Company (KAIC) will reach 20 million manat in two years.

In 2009, the National Entrepreneurship Support Fund at the Azerbaijani Economic Development Ministry plans to issue lax loans worth 130 million manat via the public budget and pay off key amounts and interests of earlier issued loans, the ministry said.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a message for Americans worried about the economy: Be optimistic about the future of this country, AP reported.

The Azerbaijan’s manat still remains as one of the most stable currency in the region and CIS area, according to a ranking list released by Finmarket.

For the first time in more than three years, investors aren’t expecting lower global growth over the next 12 months, according to the latest Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey.

The State Consumer Market Supervision Service under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economic Development revealed inedible foodstuff during monitoring, the state service said.

National Bank of Azerbaijan (NBA) has announced a tender for the purchase of computer, server, network hardware and software with EU certificate.

The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract 0.6 percent this year, according to forecasts provided on Tuesday by an IMF official, Reuters reported.

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly has published its annual ranking of the world’s 50 largest oil companies, a perennial benchmark survey recognized industry-wide as the leading source of comparative performance assessments on all the world’s oil companies.

In order to support entrepreneurship in the country, Azerbaijan is drafting a new state program, the First Deputy Prime Minister Yagub Eyyub said in a report to the Milli Majlis.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will open an office in Azerbaijan, US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ms Anne E. Derse told a meeting at the Caspian-European Integration Business Club (CEIBC).

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's decree to apply "single window" principle to manage with migration processes in Azerbaijan will improve work in this direction and create new opportunities, the country's Labor and Social Protection Ministry Migration and Demography Department Head Vahab Mammadov said.

In the period of economic and political uncertainty in the world, the USA keeps durable partnership with Azerbaijan with regards to mutual interests, U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne E. Derse said at the meeting of Caspian Integration Business Club on March 4.

Azerbaijan's inflation rate is expected to hit 20 percent in 2009 according to the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 report by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Azerbaijani Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev instructed the relevant departments of the Ministry to develop the 2009 action plan.

AZN 10.9 billion worth of consumer goods were sold at trade outlets in Azerbaijan during 2008, up 16.1% on a year ago, said the State Statistical Committee.

Azerbaijan Confederation of Entrepreneurs and Germany’s Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Institute will sign an agreement of cooperation for the Social Dialogue Cooperation Project.

This week, researchers from the Institute for Privatization and Management Research participated in roundtables organized in the German Embassy and the Chinese Embassy in Belarus to discuss the National Business Platform 2009

On December 13-17 Hammad Siddiqui, Senior Program Officer, CIPE Pakistan visited the CIPE Regional office in Bucharest as part of a professional exchange program.

 On December 17, the Bishkek Business Club (BBC) organized the Second Annual Forum of the National Alliance of Business Associations (NABA) at the Hyatt Regency in Bishkek.