Construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway (BTK) is coming to an end on the Georgian section, Georgia Online reports. The final stage of the construction consists of building a 26.3-km section from Akhalkalaki to Kartsakhi and to the Turkish border, a 4.5-km section to Akhalkalaki, and a 156-m bridge at Gyrbulag.
The railway tunnel on the Georgian-Turkish border is 4,450m long, 2,560m of them run through Turkey. The tunnel has already been built in Turkey. The Georgian section of the tunnel is 2,070m long, 960m of which has already been built. Over 70km of railways have been built in the last 5 months, a record for Georgia.
BTK is being built within the framework of the Georgian-Azerbaijan-Turkish inter-state agreement. The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) granted Georgia $775 million for the construction. The new Akhalkalaki-Marabda-Tbilisi line (105km) will be built, increasing the capacity of the railway to 15 million tons of cargo a year. A switch from the Georgian to European rails will be built in Akhalkalaki.
The railway will be completed in 2015. Its capacity will amount to one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo a year after the launch. The maximum capacity will reach 17 million tons a year.
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Armenian light industry was declared one of the 11 priorities of the economy in 2011, Delovoy Express reports. About 50-60 enterprises specialize in the industry, most of them are post-Soviet jersey companies. Shoes are mainly produced by small handicraft enterprises. Luks is the only company for high-scale shoe production. Sewing industry is not productive either.
Ovsep Pogosyan, a co-chair of the Union of Light Industry Employers of Armenia, said that the main problems of the industry were poor protection of national manufacturers on the domestic market, unequal competition, lack of financial resources, bureaucracy, the unfavourable business climate, lack of designers, problem with exports of unprocessed leather, lack of laboratories for certification of products that could be exported to Russia. "It should be considered today, when Armenia is on its way to joining the Customs Union, otherwise products will be taken to Russian laboratories, certified there and only then exported to Russia," assumes Ovsepyan.
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A year has passed since Ramazan Abdulatipov became Dagestani leader, Dagestanskaya Pravda reports. The republic's government has managed to solve many topical problems and overcome negative tendencies in the past years. Socio-polical life in the republic has greatly activated, the situation in society has stabilized. The republic has become the top developing economy. According to social polls of the All-Russian Agency for Political and Economic Communication conducted in August, he was ranked 15 in the list of 83 regional leaders of Russia.
New agricultural and processing enterprises appeared in the republic. Construction of the Kaspiysk plate glass factory and reconstruction of the Kikuni canned food factory have been completed, construction of new modern enterprises started. 36 schools and 11 nurseries opened for 4,600 children. Crops were planted on over 6,000 additional hectares, over 2,000 new vineyards were planted. The Trud Stadium was reconstructed, over 400km of roads were constructed and reconstructed. A positive investment climate was formed. The population is optimistic about progress achieved throughout the year and wants to engage in hard work for the development of the region.
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The Azerbaijani Town Exhibition was organized by the Heydar Aliyev Fund in Paris on September 19, Bakinsky Rabochiy reports. The "Cultural Values of Azerbaijan - Pearl of the Caucasus" exposition describes information about the cultural development in the country over millennia. The exposition demonstrates wares made of copper, shabaka, national costumes, national music instruments and Azerbaijani carpets.
The "Journey to Azerbaijan" exposition demonstrates publications of the Heydar Aliyev Fund, Nizami Ganjavi works, jewelry, household items, replicas of Azerbaijani Medieval miniature paintings, porcelain utensils, carpets depicting poetic stories.
Visitors to the exhibition were invited to try a wide range of national wines, sweets, jams, dried fruits and tea. People learned about the making of carpets and ceramics, they bought books and booklets about history, culture, music and art. Rope-walkers and pehlivans entertained the guests. Musicians played classical, jazz and Mugam music. The "France in the Eyes of Azerbaijani Artists" exhibition of paintings was opened.
A presentation of preparations for the 2015 European Games in Baku was made. Azerbaijani First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva noted that the projects realized in France were playing an essential role in popularizing the history, culture, art of the country. Jean-Pierre Lecoq, the mayor of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, where the exhibition was organized, said that locals will have an opportunity to get detailed information about Azerbaijan for 10 days. He pointed out that the first lady had been organizing many events abroad in the past years, the exhibition in Paris being just one of them.
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The Azerbaijani State Agency for Alternative and Renewable Energy Sources is realizing high-scale projects for formation of new generation facilities, head of the Agency Akim Badalov told the Kaspiy newspaper.
In his words, the state and the private sector had realized projects to exploit the potential of wind, sun, small rivers, geothermal water and bioresources. Construction of new power plants was completed in Sumgayit, Pirallakhi, Garadag, Samukh. The power plants are being connected to the central power network. Construction of two wind power plants was accomplished in Yeni Yashma. They are being inspected. One of them with an output of 50MW will be connected to the network soon. Construction of a small dam has been completed in the Sheki District. Over 100 manats ($127 million) has been invested in the sector by the government.
Badalov noted that power plants using alternative energy sources with an output of 300MW would be realized in 2015. Preparation of projects for construction of new solar power plants in 7 districts is coming to an end, they will be established at the end of the year. Biomass stations will be established in the Sheki and the Siyazan districts in early 2015, according to Badalov. The Azerbaijani Agency offers to realize foreign projects.
