By Vestnik Kavkaza
The representatives of civil society in Armenia and Azerbaijan should continue to try to find common ground. This opinion, according to the newspaper "Caspian" which is published in Baku, was expressed by the chairman of the Interstate Fund for Humanitarian Cooperation , Representative of Azerbaijan to the Council for Humanitarian Cooperation of the CIS, Ambassador of Azerbaijan to Russia, singer and composer Polad Bulbuloglu. In an interview with " The Armenian News" on the sidelines of the 8th Forum of Creative and Scientific Intelligentsia of the CIS held on September 23-26 in Minsk Polad Bulbuloglu said: "Although many problems have accumulated between our countries and our peoples, there is no other way except sitting down at the table of peace talks, which have not yet reached their limits. Still, we are two small peoples. We should look at all the world, see what is happening and understand that besides ourselves, no one in this world will help us”.
"We should appeal to reason and look for things in common, opportunities, which, I want to repeat, today have not yet been exhausted. But, unfortunately, time is against us", the Ambassador of Azerbaijan said, indicating the success of implemented projects, in particular, the initiative of the participation of young Armenian and Azerbaijani musicians in the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the CIS. "Our experience has shown that they are perfectly co-existing together, they went on the road and visited Baku, Yerevan and other cities", Bulbuloglu said.
Addressing Armenian journalists, he said: "It is no secret that the image of the enemy is cultivated both in your press in our press, and a generation that sees each other as enemies is growing up. This cannot be tolerated. Thus, we are laying a mine that will explode in the future generations. But there is intelligentsia, there are people who know each other, remember each other, and we should at least use this potential in order to establish a dialogue". "Of course”, the ambassador went on, “it does not replace what our presidents do , or what Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs do. But at the level of civil society, at the level of ordinary people, such work is very important. At the current forum, two delegations - Azerbaijani and Armenian ones – peacefully coexist. They say hello to each other , talk and ask questions. We should continue this. This is very important for basic human communication, in order to create a favorable background for the politicians who will be able to resolve this issue", Polad Bulbuloglu hopes. .
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The Armenian weekly "Business Express" reported that the EDB considered the benefits for Armenia from joining the Customs Union (CU). For instance, according to the experts of the bank, in a two-year term the benefits to Armenia from joining the Customs Union will be in the form of 4-4.5 % of the annual GDP growth. One of the factors that will contribute to this is the removal of the Russian export duty on gas, which will give impact of about $ 140 million a year to Armenia. Gas prices for Armenia will decrease by about 30 % - from the current $ 270 to $180. In addition, the CU will eliminate certain exemptions from the free trade regime, including those quite important for Armenia, such as the Russian export duty on rough diamonds at a rate of 6.5 %, which will increase the competitiveness of the cutters.
Another factor, experts say , is that Russia is closer to export there agricultural products which are 23% of the export. Moreover, it seems to be more reliable partner for the re-export of minerals , the proportion of which reaches 28%.
There will also be a positive trend in the issue of Armenian labor migrants and their transfers. For them, quotas and licenses will be abolished, and they will be subject to the national social regime. Of the $1.7 billion of non-commercial remittances to Armenia last year, more than 85 % came from Russia, accounting for about 15% of GDP, experts say .
The bank's experts say that the Armenian economy will also be able to attract large targeted investments for the solution for the transport and energy problems. According to the EDB, to date, investments of the countries of the Customs Union in Armenia are already $ 2.1 billion, or 40 % of all foreign direct investment, of which the lion's share goes to Russia. According to experts, the construction of new generating capacity, the emergence of the railway communication with Iran and Georgia with the assistance of the CU will help boost the growth rate of GDP in Armenia and thus improve the well-being of its population. Among the priorities, there is the creation of a transport corridor "North -South ", which will let Armenia go out of the communication deadlock and create a transport link between the CU and the markets of Iran and South Asia. Armenia’s choice in favor of the CU and not the European Union is right, the experts conclude. The Armenian authorities, they say, have made the integration choice based on real economic benefits, but also on the choice of the majority of the population of Armenia. According to the recent polls of the EDB , more than 67% of the Armenians have a positive attitude to joining the CU, and only 5% are against it.
Among the latter, there is the publicist, vice-chairman of the Party of Free Democrats Anush Setrakian , who in an interview to the" Lragir" commenter on the entry into the Customs Union as an error on the part of the authorities. While the public thinks of preserving and strengthening the independence, the political leaders do not do this. In both Armenia and Russia, the state is unpredictable and do not provide good standards of citizens, human rights and the rule of law. She believes that integration with Russia will not solve the problems in Armenia, and this means that the extension of the Customs Union is just a virtual extension of the borders of Russia and the preservation of a number of countries in the zone of influence of the Kremlin, and the social level of the Armenian citizens is not of interest for either Armenian or Russian officials.
The parliamentary faction of "Prosperous Armenia" is going to ask the government to provide a report on the financial costs associated with the 3.5 -year-old talks about the association agreement and the agreement on free trade zone with the EU. This, according to the newspaper "Voice of Armenia" , was announced recently by the chairman of the Commission on European Integration, MP from PAP faction Naira Zohrabyan. She promised on behalf of the faction to present information to citizens about how much money was spent on commuting employees of the MFA to Brussels and talks about the document that is likely to never be signed.
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A month before the presidential elections in Georgia, the U.S. National Democratic Institute (NDI) unveiled the opinion poll of the Georgian voters published by The Georgian Times. The survey showed that the candidate of the ruling coalition "Georgian Dream" George Margvelashvili is supported by 39% of respondents, while the representative of the former ruling party, the United National Movement , the leader of the parliamentary minority, David Bakradze, is supported by only 18% of respondents. The leader of the Democratic Movement - United Georgia, former parliament speaker Nino Burjanadze, is supported by 7% of the respondents, and came third. The rest of the 23 candidates received less than 3%. The survey also found that 16% of respondents were undecided about the candidate. These indicators give the researchers s reason to believe that during the election, a second round of voting is inevitable.
According to the survey, it was reported that 71% disapprove the forthcoming resignation of Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili, and only 18 % agree with it . His rating as a leader compared to previous surveys has not changed, he is still supported by 69 % of respondents.
The surveys have shown that the most important national issues for the people of Georgia are job creation (63 %), territorial integrity (35%), affordable health care services (29 %). The majority of the respondents believe that the situation in the country on the above issues as compared to October 2012 has not changed.
Among the respondents, 81 % support Georgia's aspirations to join the European Union, 73 % support the integration of Georgia into NATO, 76 % approve the participation in the Sochi Olympics, 71 % of the respondents do not consider today's relations with Russia acceptable.
According to the survey, the list of ministers of the current government was compiled. The leading position in it was taken by Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania. In the second place, there is the interior minister Irakli Garibashvili. He is followed by the Minister of Justice Thea Tsulukiani, Foreign Minister Maya Pandzhikidze and Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Kakhi Kaladze . In the ranking of the state and public institutions in the country, the first place is taken by the Georgian army , the second – by the police, the third – by the coalition "Georgian Dream" , the fourth place is taken by the Ministry of Agriculture, and the fifth – by the parliament . Commenting on this, Alasania noted that the his high rating and the high rating of the Georgian army are primarily associated with the trust of the Georgian people and the heroism demonstrated by the Georgian troops in the international mission in Afghanistan.
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The newspaper "Dagestani Pravda" reports about the progress of the formation of the region's reserve of managers. Before, the edition reported on declaring the competition on the selection of the reserve. "Everyone who cares about the fate of Dagestan , who feels his forces, has the experience, knowledge and desire to participate in the process of renovation of the republic, its withdrawal from the crisis”, the report said, “would have a real opportunity to enter into power." It was pointed out that the administrative reserve of the republic is formed in order to improve the recruitment and placement of personnel, the timely satisfaction of the needs of the region in the managerial personnel , the improvement of professional and business activity. The reserve is based on the competition among citizens with creative thinking, high business and personal qualities and professional experience.
The list of positions for which it is planned to prepare a reserve concerns almost all levels of government, from national and municipal authorities to heads of enterprises, institutions and organizations. The competition attracted a lot of people in Dagestan, and, to date, the information about it on the internet is watched by more than 21 thousand people, including those from other regions of the country. About 800 people already filed applications to the tender. They include representatives from business, education, science, health, representatives of almost all the spheres of the national economy. Among the applicants, there are 16 doctors and 104 PhDs. 167 women also filed their applications. The activity of young people is noticeable: the number of candidates on the right side of thirty was 151. 193 candidates have experience in the civil service. In the near future they will be asked to complete written contest work. In October, the second stage of the competition will be held. The composition of independent expert council to assess the results of tender procedures is already approved.
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The corporation “North Caucasus Resorts” created a working group on the interaction with the population of the municipal districts, where the construction of ski and recreational infrastructure within the project of the North Caucasus tourism cluster will be carried out. The task of the group is to carry out advocacy among local residents in the regions of holiday resorts on issues related to land use, employment, tax benefits, the opportunity to participate in the project as residents of special economic zones. It is planned to examine personal references of the locals. The newspaper "Kabardino-Balkarian Pravda" tells about the meeting with representatives of the residents of the village of Elbrus. As the newspaper reports, the deputy director of the Department of Strategic Development Hassan Timizhev told which areas will be included in a special economic zone; he also said that the ownership of these lands will not change. In addition, the company does not intend to develop the hotel infrastructure here. This is left to local entrepreneurs. In the case of the partnership interaction, the company will provide them with a range of benefits.
It is planned to begin investing in the region in the next year. "In the Elbrus region, we will work in stages”, the representative of the company said, “but that does not mean that we start from scratch to build a resort. Elbrus is unique because it already has its own ski resort, there are objects of tourist infrastructure, and it is planned to improve the existing ski runs and create new ones, and to complete construction of the third stage of the cable car". The leadership of the company believes that it will allow as a whole to develop a tourism cluster in the North Caucasus. The head of administration of the Elbrus District Aslan Malkarov stressed that Elbrus is at the first step of creating a tourist cluster in the south of Russia and is perceived by investors as a famous international tourist brand attractive for both Russian and foreign tourists.
