By Vestnik Kavkaza
On the eve of President Vladimir Putin's visit to Azerbaijan the Baku-issued "Caspian" newspaper asked the opinion of political scientists about the significance of this visit to the country. According to political scientist Elman Nesirli, the visit shows the level of strategic partnership relations between Moscow and Baku. He noted that between Russia and Azerbaijan, the development of economic and humanitarian spheres is particularly successful. According to him, Azerbaijan has always been an interested party in its relations with Russia, including in the further development of cooperation. In particular, Nesirli said that Russia today is one of the main trade partners of Azerbaijan. Another factor that confirms the importance of Azerbaijan to its northern neighbor is Russia's participation as a co-chair in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and therefore it has a special status and potential. At the same time, the political scientist acknowledged that relations between the two countries have factors of misunderstandings and unresolved issues. Given all of this, he believes that the visit of Vladimir Putin to Azerbaijan will be particularly relevant. This visit can be very useful from the point of view of creating a new legal and regulatory framework for the development of bilateral relations, as well as to discuss today's issues which still do not have their solutions and to address some of the problems.
Talking about the issue of Azerbaijan's entry into the Eurasian and Customs Union, Nesirli said that Azerbaijan has a positive attitude to integration processes leading to their mutual benefit. Azerbaijan's position is based on the fact that the states of both unions have to be loyal to each other. However, Armenia, which is going to join these alliances, actually occupies 20 percent of the territories of Azerbaijan. It turns out that, entering these alliances, Azerbaijan has to close its eyes to the fact of occupation and build relations with Armenia.
Meanwhile, political scientist Gabil Guseynli claims that Azerbaijan has recently started to take a serious effort to improve relations with its northern neighbor. Putin's visit itself suggests that the relationship between the two countries may be turning for the better.
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The Armenian newspaper "Aravot" in the article "Georgian lessons and messages for Serzh Sargsyan" comments on an interview given by the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Russian-Georgian war in August 2008 to the Georgian TV channel "Rustavi-2".
According to the newspaper, the Prime Minister called Saakashvili a political criminal who in fact tore his state. Speaking about the creation of the Eurasian Union, Medvedev said that its creation does not mean the revival of the Soviet Union. According to him, the Eurasian Union is the integration with neighbor countries in the areas of trade and investment (Medvedev also mentioned the economic potential of the convergence and humanitarian cooperation – VK), which could be interesting for Georgia. For example, he told about the integration of the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Belarus, adding that the Prime Minister of Georgia Ivanishvili is expected to take pragmatic actions. "Politicians”, Medvedev said, “should be pragmatic; they must make decisions according to the situation and try to resolve all their issues in the legislative field at the negotiating table and not through pressure or appeal to any authority overseas."
Then, the newspaper continues, representing the position of Moscow, Medvedev said (almost threateningly): "The possibility of NATO membership does not provide Georgia, as a sovereign, well-developing state, with anything, but at the same time, will create a long-term source of tension between the two countries. You will become a member of a major military-political alliance, which (I repeat, we did not come up with it, this had been done before) is the so-called potential enemy in certain situations”, Medvedev said, adding that NATO nuclear missiles are aimed at the objects on the territory of the Russian Federation.
According to the newspaper, the statement by the Russian government is expected within the context of Moscow's efforts aimed at preventing leaving the South Caucasus. Recently, the author writes, the Kremlin openly shows that it struggles for the South Caucasus and does not miss an occasion to show itself and its interests.
The author sees in all of this, as he put it, a clear message of the Kremlin, which also goes to the official Yerevan on the eve of deepening of its relations with the EU. It's hard to tell, he says, whether the Armenian authorities can resist the Russian pressure, but they definitely have to do this.
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Recently in Armenia in the enterprises "RAO Mars" and the Yerevan Research Institute of Mathematical Machines (YerSRIMM) opened the first free economic zone, the purpose of which is to stimulate the formation of direct foreign investments in Armenia, the growth in exports, job creation and the conditions necessary for sustainable economic development, the weekly "Business Express" published in Yerevan reported.
According to the newspaper, the decision on the establishment of a free economic zone for a term of 10 years on the basis of these two companies was accepted by the Government of Armenia on February 2, 2012. The organizer of a free economic zone is JSC "Sitronics Armenia", which has invested in the project about $ 10 million.
The author says that the created free economic zone has an area of 55799 sq m of industrial and economic territories and 37908 sq m of office areas. In the "RAO Mars" industrial and manufacturing free economic zone was created in strategic areas of high technology and industry, and in YerSRIMM there is a technical and application free economic zone in such strategic areas as innovation, research, development work and the development of high information technology.
In the free economic zones, activities in the areas of precision engineering, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, information technology, alternative energy, industrial design, telecommunications, process instrumentation, design and manufacturing systems and materials can be expanded.
The residents of the free economic zone may operate by the principle of "one window". For them, a favorable tax environment is created, they are exempt from VAT, customs duties on imports and exports, income tax and property tax. They will also enjoy such benefits as no currency restrictions, free movement of capital, profits and dividends. All this will help to reduce production costs and increase the competitiveness.
The official opening ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan and Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov, the article says.
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The Georgian Times, referring to the Minister of Economy and Deputy Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, reports that the government plans to stop the construction of a bypass railway to Tbilisi, while there is no final decision how the plan of transfer of the railway from the center of Tbilisi should be continued.
The project, which began in 2010, provides for the transfer of the railway line from the center of Tbilisi to the north of the city, at a distance of 10 kilometers from the existing line. According to it, as a result, in the center of the city more than 70 hectares of land will be free for development projects.
The publication reports that in March 2010, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has agreed to provide 100 million euros in the form of a loan to JSC "Georgian Railway" in order to finance the construction of a bypass railway track. However, in November 2011, there were widespread reports that the bypass road project would be implemented without the assistance of the EBRD loan.
According to Kvirikashvili, the final decision has not yet been approved. "Discussions were held, during which it became clear that there are technical issues, such as for example, the slope of the terrain, as well as several others, which, unfortunately, have not previously been taken into account. We consider it appropriate to put the project aside for a time, and later, after the preparation of more optimal solutions, to return to it”, he explained.
At the same time, the article says, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Georgian Railway Koka Guntsadze, referring to comparative calculations, suggested that the bypass line will increase the annual operating and maintenance costs and will technically complicate the organization of the movement and reduce the permeability of the railway.
In turn, the Mayor of Tbilisi Gigi Ugulava criticized the decision to preserve the building, as well as the statements of Kvirikashvili. "The interests of the capital are sacrificed to the interests of one company", he said stressing that the project of bypass railway would facilitate the development of the city.
According to the mayor, even if the bypass railway project is not profitable for the JSC "Georgian Railway" it would be inappropriate to stop it, since 80 percent of the work is already done.
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According to the Chechen newspaper "Stolitsa Plus", this fall in Grozny will see a large-scale push to promote subscription of print editions amongst the population. This was discussed at a meeting of editors of the national media which discussed the promotion of publications and culture of reading amongst the people of the republic. Director of the Department of Mass Communications of the Ministry of Regional Development, National Policy and Communications of the Republic of Chechnya Lema Gudayev suggested that to achieve these goals it is necessary to conduct various activities to attract people to the subscription campaign.
He mentioned the recent newspaper and magazine fair in the Square of journalists in Grozny, which, according to him, increased the interest of the residents of the capital to print media. The minister proposed holding similar events in the areas of the republic in order to attract new subscribers.
The publication says that the meeting also touched on issues relating to the delivery of publications to the readers. The work of the Chechen branch of "Mail of Russia", which systematically defers its delivery of publications to readers, making subscribers suffer as well as the media, is recognized ineffective.
During the meeting it was decided to hold the festival of national press in the areas. These and other activities will be accompanied by concerts featuring popular artists, in order to attract the attention of more local people to print media. It was also decided to prepare a letter with an subscription offer for the staff of national ministries and departments.
In addition, the newspaper reports that the Ministry of Regional Development, National Policy and Communications of the Chechen Republic has prepared a number of recommendations to improve the quality of the prints. Among them, there is a competition for the best design of a newspaper or the best material, creating TV versions of magazines, an inter-regional journalistic forum for the exchange of experiences and inter-regional cooperation of the media, the use of outdoor advertising for the promotion of newspapers and magazines, as well as holding the republic campaign in support of publications on the TV channels.
