By Vestnik Kavkaza
The "Azerbaijan" newspaper informs that at last week's session of the General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), Azerbaijan was elected a member of its executive board. From four applicant countries from the European continent, Azerbaijan won the largest number of votes - 25. Germany won 24 votes, Serbia - 20, Bulgaria - 18. The session also decided to hold in Baku in 2014 the next meeting of the European Commission of the UN World Tourism Organization. The article said that in making these decisions the Armenian delegation expressed its protest, which was not supported by other participants.
The World Tourism Organization is the UN agency established in 1925. The headquarters is located in Madrid. The goal is the development of tourism, stimulating economic development, promoting measures to protect environment and cultural heritage, as well as promoting peace, welfare and respect for civil rights.
According to the newspaper, at present Azerbaijan has great potential for tourism development. The natural wealth, the variety of climatic zones, rich cultural and historical heritage can create an attractive tourism product. The development of the tourism industry in the country has been announced as the priority of the non-oil sector of the economy. In recent years in Azerbaijan a number of reforms were implemented in order to promote tourism; the legal and regulatory framework was improved; the State Tourism Development Program for 2010-2014 was adopted, and 2011 was declared the Year of Tourism in the country. In addition, currently a draft law "On Tourism" developed on the basis of international standards is under consideration; this document took into account the suggestions made by experts of the World Tourism Organization .
The publication points out that in order to promote Azerbaijan the Ministry of Culture and Tourism regularly represents the country in international tourism exhibitions, and on a number of the world 's leading television channels commercials were shown demonstrating the tourism potential of Azerbaijan, and information tours were organized for representatives of the tourism industry and the media of different countries. To simplify the procedure for obtaining visas for foreign tourists from April this year the country introduced a system of registration through the Internet.
Measures taken in the country have yielded positive results. The statistics for 2012 and the first half of 2013 show an increase in the flow of tourists to the country by 10%. Azerbaijan, the newspaper says, became the first country in the region which has established close links with international tourism organizations. The publication quoted the secretary general of the UN World Tourism Organization who called Azerbaijan a rising star in the field of tourism. He said: "In Azerbaijan there are ideal conditions for the development of tourism as well as other areas that it sufficiently uses."
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The Georgian Times reports the results of a public opinion poll conducted by the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VTsIOM ), according to which the Russians now assess relations with Georgia to be much more positive than seven years ago. For example, only 22 % of the citizens of the Russian Federation called Russian-Georgian relations strained, while in 2006 they were evaluated in this way by 39% of the respondents. There are fewer of those who point to hostility - only 5%, whereas seven years ago there were 14-18 %.
There are significantly more people than in 2006 who think that Russian-Georgian relations are normal - 24 % vs. 9 %, respectively. However, a few people gave a positive evaluation: only 2% call them friendly and 4% - good-neighborly .
The majority of Russians (52 %) believe that Russia's image in the world after the events in South Ossetia in August 2008 has not changed, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg the figure is 73%. 21% of respondents talked about its improvement. Among the respondents, 15 % believe that what happened in August 2008 had a negative impact on the credibility of Russia.
The opinion poll was held on 28-29 July 2013. 1,600 people were interviewed in 130 settlements in 42 regions, territories and republics of Russia. The statistical error does not exceed 3.4 %.
According to the newspaper, commenting on the results of the survey, the director of VTsIOM, Valery Fyodorov, said the change in the attitude of Russians to Georgia for the better is primarily because new people came to power there: "Under Saakashvili no improvement was possible. Now there is a slow improvement. People see it and feel it. There are signs that are visible to almost everyone, this is the emergence of Georgian wine, "Borjomi" and other goods in Russia, Russian tourists are increasingly choosing Georgia as a place for relaxing and visiting."
As for the perception of the events of August, everything is ambiguous . "In 2008,” Fedorov said, “we had a patriotic frenzy. We were convinced that we were right, and the reactions of Europe and the United States are minor matters, and we will maintain our position. Then the situation changed : the war was over, but the economic crisis began. A lot of things collapsed. It became clear that war is war, and it is better to make friends with the authorities than to be in a state of confrontation. Anyway, the significance of this military action has plummeted".
The head of VTsIOM also admitted that the outlook for the future in this case is difficult to be given, because it all depends on the subsequent relations between states.
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The newspaper "Voice of Armenia" reports that the country is currently home to about 10,000 Armenians who arrived from the start of the civil war in Syria. According to the head of the Ministry of Diaspora, the head of the working group on Syrian refugees Firdus Zakarian, the total number of immigrants was about 15,000 people; however, about a third of them have returned to Syria. The government through the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia is implementing various assistance programs for Syrian Armenians. In particular, in Ashtarak for them a new residential quarter - New Aleppo – is being built, and all those who came are provided with free use of health services, many of them are compensated for training in high schools, the procedures for obtaining visas and residence permits are as simple as possible and absolutely free and for the first 11 months customs duties on imported cars are not being charged. According to Zakarian, the ministry is ready to provide housing and land to those Syrian Armenians who agree to live outside of Yerevan. However, according to the official, in general there are a few Syrian Armenians who want to go to the Armenian heartland and cultivate the land; among them, there are 35 families, i. e. about 150 people who expressed their intention to settle in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions, and the rest, about 99 %, were arranged directly in the capital, where for financial reasons offering them a living space is not feasible.
"When the flow of Syrian Armenians to Armenia began to grow,” the head of the ministry says, “many have criticized the government for not having the necessary resources for the reception of so many visitors and so on. However, the Armenian authorities have set a goal - to receive compatriots and do their best to help them based on the desires of the Syrian Armenians themselves. As we can see, we had the resources to do so, and charities also help us," Zakarian said. He drew attention to the fact that this trend was observed among Syrian Armenians: if just after the arrival in Armenia about 95 % of them planned to ride out the crisis and return to their country after the civil war, now their number is gradually falling. For example, today, as for the Cilicia seminary for children of Armenians from Syria in Yerevan, a training course which is designed taking into account Syrian standards, so that at any moment the children returning with their family to Syria were free to continue their education there, many parents wish to take their children from it and bring them to the usual Armenian schools. This, according to Zakarian, indicates that they want to be integrated into Armenian society, to stay here forever and link their children's future with Armenia.
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The newspaper "Kabardino –Balkarian Pravda" reports that a delegation from the Turkish city of Gölbaşı has arrived in the republic. The group, headed by the Deputy Mayor Jakub Odabaşı, included the head of the NGO "United Caucasus" Tolga Gencer, heads of committees of the city administration of Gölbaşı Mehmet Atak and Yanyka Qadir, deputy Hajer Verlyk and journalist Murat Ylykan.
According to the spokesman for the local administration of Nalchik, Zarina Uyanaeva, within a two-week stay in the republic they plan to present several major projects to be implemented in the Kabardino-Balkar Republic. In particular, they are ready to participate in the creation of an international business community in the republic. The delegation visited the city administration, where they discussed prospects of cooperation between Nalchik and Gölbaşı .
"Kabardino -Balkaria and Turkey have long-standing friendly relations; economic, scientific- technical and cultural ties are established. We are sure the next visit of Turkish guests will give a further impetus to the further interaction and broaden the horizons of international cooperation," the acting head of the administration of the city district of Nalchik, Igor Kladko, said. Deputy Mayor of Gölbaşı Jakub Odabaşı shared his impressions of the CBR artists’ performances; they have visited Turkey this year on tour. In addition, he noted that the annual wrestling tournament, the venue for which is now their city, is exciting and memorable due to athletes from Nalchik.
Jakub Odabaşı invited representatives of the local administration to a return visit to Turkey.
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Ingushetian media tell about the traditions established in the republic, where alumni who graduated with honors from the universities of the republic are solemnly awarded the orders of employment. The action entitled "Professional staff - the future of the Republic of Ingushetia" was launched last year. The regional administration instructed officials to find work for young professionals in the republican and federal departments and agencies in the territory of Ingushetia. Then the project has employed 80 standouts who are now successfully working in various institutions of the republic.
According to the newspaper "Ingushetia", the other day the Summer Amphitheatre of the capital of the republic hosted a festive event dedicated to honoring graduates who graduated this year with honors. Acting head of the republic Yunus -Bek Yevkurov congratulated the graduates and said that their hard work has not gone unnoticed. All of them were solemnly handed over the orders for a job. According to the author, it is not just about giving jobs in the national power structures, ministries, departments and organizations to really competent, trained professionals. Far sight is needed to encourage university students to acquire knowledge that the university provides them with. This "binding" between employment and study is something that has recently been lacking in the national education. Because, why should you learn, the author asks, if you are lucky – you’ll get a job, and if you’re not - why would you bother? And the action of mandatory employment of excellent students encourages students, sends them a signal - learn and you’ll have prospects, you will be in demand. In total, this year 64 graduates from Ingushetia graduated with honors from Russian universities.
