SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Malaysia’s oil and gas company Petronas signed a memorandum with Azerbaijan’s state-owned energy company SOCAR to develop the Goshadash offshore block. Goshadash is located in the Absheron archipelago in the Caspian Sea. Petronas is already active in Azerbaijan’s oil and gas sector, as it owns a 15.5% stake in the Shah Deniz gas field.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
BAKU, SEPT. 19 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) — The bus driver who crashed into a group of Austrian teenage swimmers inside the athletes’ village on the eve of Baku’s European Games last year was sentenced to three years in prison for breaking road rules, but a security company camera-man who recorded and circulated the footage of the crash on the internet was found guilty of abuse of office and sentenced to four years in jail.
Footage of the crash showed a coach swinging through a roundabout too quickly and then mowing over the Austrian swimmers. One of the swimmers was left severely disabled and the accident overshadowed the Games.
The different length of prison sentences has concerned many Azerbaijanis who question the fairness of a justice system in which the man who made the information public was punished more harshly than the driver of the coach.
“You don’t have to be a lawyer to say that this judgment is completely disproportional. Recording and sharing such a video should not be a crime. It’s not a state secret,” Said, a 20-year old student at Baku State University told The Conway Bulletin.
“The government tried to cover the incident because they invested millions of dollars in the Games and didn’t want that to spoil their international image. But if they truly care about it, they should make sure the trial is fair. It clearly wasn’t.”
Three Austrian synchronised swimmers were hit by the coach on June 13, a day before the start of the European Games. Two of them, suffering from multiple broken bones and spine injury, were flown to Vienna on the personal jet of Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev.
The driver of the coach pleaded guilty, saying he had mistaken the accelerator for the brake pedal.
Azerbaijan had tried to use the inaugural European Games in Baku to promote itself. Instead the Games were marred by the coach crash, another serious car crash and mediocre sporting performances.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
SEPT. 22 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s foreign minister Elmar Mammadyarov said his country is ready to hold more talks with Armenia to settle the long-lasting dispute over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Mr Mammadyarov spoke with OSCE special representative Lamberto Zannier on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. In April, four days of fighting between Azerbaijan’s army and Armenia-backed forces punctured a fragile 1994 UN-organised ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
SEPT. 16 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s customs committee said that car imports in Jan.-Aug. 2016 fell by 6.1% compared to the same period last year. In total, Azerbaijan imported 3,454 vehicles, mostly passenger cars. Over the past three years, car imports have fallen sharply in Azerbaijan, after the manat currency has lost around half its value during two devaluations and the ditching of the US dollar peg.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
SEPT. 20 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Mehriban Aliyeva, the wife of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, opened the so-called Azerbaijani Village in central Paris. Ms Aliyeva, President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, cut the ribbon of the temporary exhibit, which will showcase Azerbaijani culture, history and cuisine at Place Joffre, a stone’s throw away from the Eiffel Tower. Azerbaijan has invested millions of dollars upgrading its image abroad.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
SEPT. 20/21 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s oil and gas exports have fallen this year, according to government sources. Gas exports for the first seven months of 2016 amounted to 4.6b cubic metres, 8.6% lower than in the same period last year, Interfax reported. Oil exports in Jan.-Aug. fell to 33.3m tonnes, down 4.2% compared to last year, government sources told Reuters. Oil exports in particular are vital for the Azerbaijani economy. With both the value and volume of oil exports dropping, government revenues have dried up.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 297, published on Sept. 23 2016)
SEPT. 15 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Annualised inflation in Azerbaijan remained above 10% in August as the country continued to cope with the price increases linked to the Central Bank’s decision to abandon the currency peg to the US dollar in December, the Statistics Committee said. In Jan.-Aug. 2016 inflation amounted to 10.8%, in annualised terms it was 10.6%.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
SEPT. 14 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijani authorities released from prison opposition activist Natig Jafarli, of the Republican Alternative Movement, arrested for financial crimes on Aug. 12. Before his arrest, Mr Jafarli’s organisation had won a grant from the US-based National Democratic Institute. The leader of Republican Alternative, Ilgar Mammadov, remains in prison. He was arrested in 2013 on charges of inciting mass violence. Human rights lobby groups, the US government and the Council of Europe have called repeatedly for his release.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
SEPT. 11 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s opposition coalition, the National Council of Democratic Forces held a rally in Baku, protesting against the upcoming constitutional referendum. The coalition said the rally would be the first of a series of demonstrations against the government’s plans to change the Constitution. Wrapped in flags and chanting against corruption, thousands took part in the rally. The organisers said over 10,000 participated. Official figures said only 2,500 were at the rally. Importantly, the rally had been authorised by local officials.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
SEPT. 13 2016 (The Conway Bulletin) – The IMF published a report on the state of Azerbaijan’s economy, forecasting a GDP contraction of 2.4% in 2016. The IMF said that lower oil prices, weak regional growth, currency devaluations, and lower hydrocarbon production have impacted Azerbaijan’s economic performance. In its report, the IMF said Azerbaijan’s GDP will resume growth in 2017.
ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 296, published on Sept. 16 2016)
