На мировых биржах зафиксирован рост цен на нефть.

Как сообщает Caspian Energy Media со ссылкой на АЗЕРТАДЖ, на лондонской бирже ICE (InterContinental Exchange Futures) баррель нефти марки «Брент» подорожал на 0,05 доллара – до 86,06 доллара. На нью-йоркской NYMEX (New York Merchantile Exchange) стоимость нефти марки «Лайт» увеличилась на 0,06 доллара и составила 81,69 доллара за баррель.

20 сентября этого года Азербайджан отмечает 25 лет со дня подписания «Контракта Века» - одного из важнейших по своему политическому, экономическому и стратегическому значению контрактов в истории Азербайджана после обретения независимости. Этот проект, являющийся основой нефтяной стратегии, открыл новые перспективы для будущего страны и придал мощный импульс для динамичного развития всей экономики Азербайджана. Контракт открыл путь для заключения новых контрактов, повысил уровень доверия к нашему государству, заложил фундамент беспрецедентного экономического роста Азербайджана. Двадцать пять лет очень короткий период для истории, но тем не менее, развитие нашей страны, ее позиция в международном сообществе, влияние в регионе достигли очень высокого уровня. В основе всего этого лежит нефтяная стратегия, архитектором которой стал общенациональный лидер Гейдар Алиев, а залогом эффективной реализации этой стратегии стала политика Президента Ильхама Алиева. Целенаправленная деятельность руководства Азербайджана в энергетическом секторе превратила его в региональный энергетический центр.

Именно подписание “Контракта века” заложило основу всех этих достижений. Предвестником данного знакового события стала международная выставка и конференция Caspian Oil and Gas, идейным вдохновителем которой был также Гейдар Алиев. Согласно его нефтяной стратегии, необходимо было привлечь на Каспий влиятельные мировые компании и обеспечить приток в Азербайджан крупных зарубежных инвестиций, которые способствовали бы укреплению национальной независимости страны, развитию ее экономики. И в мае 1994 года на выставке Caspian Oil and Gas были сделаны к этому первые шаги – на одной площадке в одно время были собраны ключевые игроки нефтяной сферы, которым был продемонстрирован серьезный нефтегазовый потенциал Азербайджана, а они в свою очередь раскрыли перед Азербайджаном весь спектр своих инвестиционных предложений. Вполне возможно, что заключительные этапы переговоров будущих партнеров по “Контракту века” состоялись именно на выставке.

Уже прошло четверть века, а выставка и конференция Caspian Oil and Gas продолжает оставаться эффективной площадкой для презентации богатого нефтегазового и транзитного потенциала Азербайджана, его привлекательности для зарубежных инвесторов, инноваций в мировой энергетике и местом встречи ведущих профессионалов отрасли, где подписываются ключевые соглашения и контракты о дальнейшем сотрудничестве. Ежегодное участие в церемонии открытия Президента Азербайджанской Республики Ильхама Алиева в очередной раз подтверждает высокий статус выставки. За долгие годы успеха на выставку свои приветственные письма отправили президенты США, премьер-министры Великобритании, Турции и других стран. Участники выставки и конференции Caspian Oil and Gas, многие из которых с нами со дня подписания Контракта Века, знают, что каждый год, примерно в то же время, в том же месте они увидят старых друзей и партнеров, сверят часы, обсудят насущные темы отрасли, установят новые контакты.

Напрямую с “Контрактом века” связан и профессиональный праздник нефтяников страны. Но не только с датой, но и с тем, что именно контракт способствовал восстановлению престижа профессии нефтяника. Добыча нефти – это нелегкий, ответственный и почетный труд сотен тысяч людей различных специальностей. Этот торжественный день 20 сентября замечательный повод поздравить тысячи нефтяников Азербайджана, трудящихся на благо отрасли. От имени организационного комитета выставки и конференции Caspian Oil and Gas и от себя лично сердечно поздравляю вас, дорогие нефтяники, с профессиональным праздником и с юбилеем Контракта Века! Вы своим трудом прокладывали путь новой нефтяной эре Азербайджана. Желаем вам здоровья, счастья и благополучия! Особенно хочу поздравить с этой знаменательной датой Министерство Энергетики Азербайджанской Республики, а также руководство и коллектив компании SOCAR! Мы искренне благодарим вас за труд и желаем реализации всех намеченных планов, новых производственных высот во благо и процветание Азербайджана! До новых встреч на выставке и конференции Caspian Oil and Gas 2020.

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Sultanov, how would you assess the current level and prospects of cooperation between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan in the energy field?

Alisher Sultanov, Advisor to the Prime Minister, Minister of Energy of Uzbekistan: Uzbekistan is cooperating with the Azerbaijani company SOCAR in two directions: in conduction of geological survey and increase of hydrocarbon production in the fields of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The cooperation on geological survey at the investment blocks of Uzbekistan was established in May 2018 with the signing of the memorandum of understanding. SOCAR together with BP studied the materials about the investment blocks.

Signed in the course of the 23rd International exhibition and conference “Oil and Gas of Uzbekistan OGU – 2019” hosted in Tashkent on May 15-17 was a three sided agreement on assessment of the exploratory potential of three investment blocks in Ustyurt region such as the Uzbek sector of the Aral Sea, Bayterek and Samsk-Kosbulak blocks. The document envisages re-processing of 2D seismic survey data, core and drilling mud analysis, geo-chemical analysis of fluid data (gas, oil, formation waters). It will help to get an exact assessment of the investment blocks’ potential, including the potential of Paleozoic deposits, and facilitate further promotion of geological exploration work in Ustyurt region of the Republic.

Thorough work on analysis of materials has to be carried out, including the organization of work on legal, commercial and technical lines of cooperation. Given a wide work experience of SOCAR and BP, Uzbekneftgaz JSC expects positive results from the joint work in the field of geological exploration.

As far as the second line of cooperation is concerned, following the results of the preliminary work carried out jointly with SOCAR’s subsidiary LLC “NIPI NEFTEGAZ”, signed on May 16, 2019 was an agreement on increase of production at fields of Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan. The agreement envisages ensuring the oil production growth at fields using advanced methods and technologies from SOCAR.

CE: What work is underway within the framework of the agreement on joint development of fields, signed between SOCAR and Uzbekneftegaz?

Alisher Sultanov: The joint work with SOCAR over examining the possibility of joint exploration and development of Uzbekistan fields is running on basis of the memorandum of mutual understanding signed on 16 May 2018. As a result of the work carried out, an agreement on increase of production at Garbiy Tashli and Sharkiy Tashli, Shimoliy Shurtan and Garmiston fields in Kashkadarya region of Uzbekistan was signed with SOCAR’s subsidiary LLC “NIPI NEFTEGAZ”.

The agreement provides for ensuring oil production growth at fields by using experience and technologies from SOCAR.

At present a group of specialists of Uzbekneftegaz JSC is actively cooperating with the team of LLC “NIPI NEFTEGAZ” in order to determine the scope of works, develop financial-economic model and define terms of further cooperation between the parties.

CE: To what extent is the Southern Gas Corridor promising for transporting natural gas from Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan? To what degree the international transport corridors, such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, Baku International Sea Trade Port and others are attractive for transporting Uzbek energy resources?

Alisher Sultanov: Nowadays, transportation of Uzbek gas via the Southern Gas Corridor is not considered due to the lack of the necessary infrastructure. 

CE: Uzbekistan is one of the leading gas exporters. Do you plan to diversify export markets?

Alisher Sultanov: Nowadays Uzbekistan is exporting natural gas to Russia, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Meanwhile, Uzbekneftegaz JSC is facing the task to increase export of value-added products – not the natural gas itself, but products obtained through its deep processing.

In this regard Uzbekneftegaz JSC is attracting leading foreign companies for joint deep processing of gas. For instance, one of the large projects is the construction of the gas-chemical cluster based on MTO technology with a deep processing of 1.6 bcm. The cluster will ensure production of over 1.1 million tonnes of polymer and chemical products per annum, demanded both in the domestic market and external markets.

Considering the implementation of deep gas processing projects, by 2025 the volume of 100% gas monetization in Uzbekistan shall increase from 1.4 up to 6.6bcm per annum. About 40% of produced chemical products will go for export. 

It is noteworthy that Uzbekistan has a high transit potential for transportation of over 100bcm per annum, including 55 bcm along the north route, 50 bcm via the east route and 3.2 bcm along the south route.

CE: What are the top priorities of Uzbekistan in terms of development of the energy sector? Which areas are in need of investments and which projects can be of interest to foreign investors?

Alisher Sultanov: Concrete tasks regarding the development of the fuel-energy sector of the country have been assigned to the Ministry of Energy of Uzbekistan formed in February 2019. Among them are regulation of the energy sector, implementation of the production sharing agreements and control over their observance, drawing of the private capital into energy resource production and extraction, development of public and private partnership, improvement of the tariff policy so that to assist in forming competitive business environment, increasing and diversifying production of energy resources. The tasks also include an introduction of modern corporate management in the energy sector, including IFIs’ proposals envisaging optimization of production processes. The work over the energy road map which is carried out jointly with the Asia Development Bank and other international financial institutions is about to complete and aims at increasing of generation capacities, upgrading of electricity networks, improvement of  metering and control over electricity consumption. Major focus will be on introduction of renewable sources of energy.

The development of Uzbekistan’s fuel-energy complex strategy for 2020-2030 and a comprehensive program on power industry digitalization for 2019-2021, aimed at automating Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition processes, is underway now. The important task facing the Ministry of Energy is to contribute to the comprehensive development of the country’s oil and gas sector, attraction of foreign direct investments into this sector, implementation of promising projects and introduction of innovations.

The oil-gas industry has an important place in the economy of the republic. It is not only energy, but also a key raw material base for producing fuel, petroleum, oil and lubricants, polymers, organic chemical substances, nitrogen mineral fertilizers and others products required for all sectors of economy. Geological exploration is a baseline for increasing the potential of the oil-gas industry. The company is actively working to increase the volume of exploration in the most promising areas with developed infrastructure in the Bukhara-Khivi, Ustyurt, Surkhandarya, Ferghana regions, using internal resources. We are also working with such companies as TOTAL (France), SOCAR (Azerbaijan), British Petroleum (Great Britain), Tatneft (Russia), Mubadala Petroleum (UAE), ONGC Videsh (India), etc., over expansion of geological exploration work on investment blocks that are poorly studied and feature a complex geological structure.

Currently, only 14% of natural gas is deeply processed in the oil and gas industry to produce products with high added value. There are all opportunities to increase this figure several times over the next 10 years. In this regard, JSC Uzbekneftegaz gives priority to implementation of petrochemical projects, which will help by 2030 to generate revenues exceeding those of gas export by 3 times, and increase the total export of the industry to $ 5.5 billion.

CE: Could you please tell about major details of the new long-term investment program on expansion, modernization and diversification of generating capacities for the period up to 2030?

Alisher Sultanov: The development of generating capacities in such areas as thermal power plants (TPPs) and renewable energy sources (RES) with the attraction of foreign direct investments is one of the main priority issues in development of power industry in Uzbekistan. The addressing of issues on implementation of a number of investment projects on basis of the public-private partnership (PPP) is starting nowadays.  The day of investors dedicated to the energy sector is held in Uzbekistan every Wednesday. Proposals of foreign companies are considered at such meetings. Implementation of promising projects is discussed. Prompt decisions on timely solution of existing matters are taken. 

The work on implementation of large investment projects is currently underway to increase generating capacities of the energy system for the period until 2030.  The projects are as follows:

1) construction of energy-efficient thermal generating capacities with a total volume of around 15 GW;

2) construction of modern combined cycle power plants with a total capacity of about 10 GW (at Syrdarya, Navoi, Talimarjan, Takhiatash, Turakurgan TPPs and others);

3) construction of maneuverable generating capacities based on gas reciprocating power units or aviation gas turbine plants with a total capacity of about 1.5 GW (at Syrdarya, Tasjkent TPPs, Musaberek TPP and other regions);

4) construction of power plants using renewable energy sources, bringing the total share of solar and wind power plants to 20%.

5) construction of a hydro power plant with a total capacity of 1.75 GW and a nuclear power plant with a capacity of 2.4 GW.

At the same time, by building new and modernizing existing coal power units, it is planned to diversify energy resources and increase the share of coal consumption from 6% to 19%. Apart from this, the Government of Uzbekistan has activated efforts to attract additional foreign investments so that to increase gas production by 17% by 2025.

CE: Which main priorities will underlie the new Concept of development of renewable sources of energy for the period of 2019-2023?

Alisher Sultanov: The main principles of the national policy of Uzbekistan in the field of renewable energy are to strengthen the country’s energy security, diversify the fuel and energy sector in order to increase the specific share of renewable energy, save primary energy resources, improve the ecological situation and meet the growing needs of the population and economy of the country through the introduction of market mechanisms when setting  tariffs for electricity generated out of renewables.

Among the priorities are also the expansion of cooperation with international companies and financial institutes for implementing renewables projects on the public-private partnership principles; training, retraining and skill improvement of national resources in this field. Laws on use of renewable sources of energy and on public-private partnership have been recently passed in Uzbekistan. These laws provide a firm legal framework to develop the renewables sector and attract private investments into the power industry sector of Uzbekistan in order to develop a market of independent power producers (IPP), mainly the generation facilities consuming renewables. Besides, the abovementioned laws define a set of mechanisms on provision of privileges and preferences both for producers of RES equipment and for producers of energy using RES. These significant steps are the result of fulfilling the Uzbekistan Republic President’s orders on the green energy sector development. By 2025 the Strategy for Innovative Development of the Republic of Uzbekistan for 2019-2021 provides for an increase in the share of electricity production out of renewable and alternative energy sources at a level of at least 20% of the total generation.

Modern Uzbekistan has a significant technical potential in the renewable energy sector. Of this total, solar energy accounts for 176.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent, wind energy accounts for up to 0.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent, biomass accounts for 0.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent and hydropower industry accounts for 2.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent. The resources of rivers flowing through the territory of Uzbekistan, numerous irrigation canals and water reservoirs provide high potential for the construction of small hydropower plants.

To develop renewable sources of energy for the period of 2019-2023 it is planned to introduce innovative technologies and development projects in the field of RES; expand production and localization of RES plants; to get business entities and investors involved in creation of generation capacities based on well-proven technologies of use of  solar, wind, bio-gas and geothermal energy; to cooperate and improve a legal framework in the field of the renewable energy sector development.

CE: What will be the future fate of the joint stock companies Uzbekenergo and Uzbekneftegaz after the restructuring?

Alisher Sultanov: As far as Uzbekenergo JSC is concerned, as a result of its reorganization, three structures have been created in compliance with modern methods of organization of production, transportation, distribution and sale of electricity. They are the Thermal Power Plants JSC, National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan JSC and Regional Electric Networks JSC.

Thermal Power Plants JSC is engaged in managing thermal power plants and electric power stations generating electricity and thermal energy. National Electric Networks of Uzbekistan JSC operates and develops main power transmission lines of the Republic of Uzbekistan, transportation of electricity along main power transmission lines of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as well as performs an interstate transit, export and import of electricity, and interaction with power industry systems of neighbor countries; a single supervisory control over electricity generating enterprises, including participation of private capital, as well as control over main and regional electrisity networks, functions as a single purchaser of electricity from enterprises producing electricity, as well as sells electricity to enterprises of regional electricity networks. Regional Electric Networks JSC manages enterprises of territorial electric grids distributing and selling electricity to ultimate customers. 

As far as Uzbekneftegaz is concerned, a scaled restructuring of the oil-gas system is planned to be carried out now. As a result, firstly, it is planned to reduce excessive intermediate links in the management system by linking subholding companies to Uzbekneftegaz JSC, except for Uztransgaz JSC which is being withdrawn from the structure of Uzbekneftegaz JSC, and its package of shares owned by the holding will be passed to the state. Secondly, oil and gas production organizations (LLC Mubarekneftegaz, LLC Shurtanneftegaz, LLC Ustyurtgaz, LLC Gazlineftegazdobycha, JSC Andijanneft, JSC Dzharkurganneft) will be transformed into structural divisions of JSC “Uzbekneftegaz” without the formation of a legal entity in order to to establish direct interaction with the production process. Thirdly, reorganization of individual enterprises of the industry is expected in order to streamline the structure of Uzbekneftegaz JSC. Fourthly, the shares of Uzbekneftegaz JSC and organizations operating within it through the authorized capital of service and other non-core organizations are transferred to the State Assets Management Agency for their further sale into private ownership

Thus, structural transformations in the management system of Uzbekneftegaz JSC will allow optimizing excessive production costs of enterprises, reducing the cost of work, increasing the profitability and competitiveness of the industry, improving corporate governance methods based on international experience.

Amid changes in Uzbekneftegaz JSC, it is also planned to introduce a public-private partnership in the gas distribution system.

A task on attraction of foreign funds for projects throughout the whole company has been set. Uzbekneftegaz JSC attracted $ 1.2 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first four months of 2019, which is twice more than the initial target of $550 million.

This is largely due to the fact that JSC Uzbekneftegaz is becoming a step-by-step an increasingly open company.

The plans are to increase gas production from 60bcm of 2018 up to 63.6bcm in 2019 and bring the production up to 70 bcm by 2025.

Thank you for the interview

Caspian Energy (CE): Which major points will be included into the strategy for the development of the transport system of Uzbekistan for the period until 2035?

Achilbay Ramatov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Transport of Uzbekistan: The Ministry of Transport is finalizing its work over the preliminary strategy for the development of the transport system of Uzbekistan for the period until 2035, and the work over the road map on its implementation. The strategy defines key challenges in development of the transport system of the Republic and ways of their solution. The challenges are as follows: institutional, legislative, social, ecological, logistical, staffing, safety, poor quality of transport services, etc.

The following measures have been defined to address the challenges: to improve efficiency of institutes shaping and implementing a single national transport policy; to ensure quality and availability of transport services for the population; to deliver on the transport-transit potential through an advanced development of efficient transport and logistics infrastructure, active engagement in the international transport corridors; to ensure high security of transport system; to ensure environmental compatibility of transport and provide conditions for the green transport development; to increase the share of innovations in the transport system, accelerated digitalization of the transport sector, etc.

Moreover, the project of the Strategy envisages a basic and innovative approach of development of the transport system for the period until 2035.

CE: Which measures will be taken to improve the country’s position in the international ratings assessing the logistics efficiency?

Achilbay Ramatov:  First of all, it is important to shorten the time it takes to pass customs procedures at crossing points of the state borders of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to improve the motor road infrastructure; raise competence of national carriers in terms of quality of service provision to the population and business;  improve railway and aviation infrastructure; assist business, tourism and population in getting qualitative and operational transport services; attract direct investments and financial instruments of international financial institutions and private capital to develop the logistics industry and create modern multimodal logistics parks and industrial zones within the republic; establish constructive cooperation and exchange experience with leading foreign transport-logistics and industrial companies; deliver freights on time set by consignors.

CE: Which large infrastructure projects to be implemented soon in the transport-logistics field of Uzbekistan could you note?

Achilbay Ramatov:  Noteworthy is the implementation of projects (including on public-private partnership conditions) on construction of 9 modern customs terminals at surrounding areas of the border customs posts in 2019-2021, as well as implementation of projects on construction and reconstruction of 61 bus stations and bus terminals in 2019-2021.

Among the projects is also the construction of Tashkent-Samarkand and Tashkent-Andijan toll roads, modernization of international airports in Tashkent and regions of the republic,  implementation of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway construction project and the Mazari-Sharif - Gerat and Mazari-Sharif - Kabul-Peshavar railway construction projects.

CE: Which measures are taken in Uzbekistan in the field of air transport arteries in order to develop regional transport and attract tourists?

Achilbay Ramatov: At present, the leadership and the government of the Republic of Uzbekistan are taking drastic measures to improve civil aviation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, aimed at meeting citizens’ needs in air transportation, ensuring high level of service to passengers in the airports and providing necessary comfortable conditions for them. Implemented were infrastructure projects on reconstruction of airports, air-strips, construction of passenger terminals which helped to bring all airports of the country to conformity with international standards of ICAO, raise the security of flights and service quality.

Passenger terminals were built at Tashkent, Bukhara, Urgench, Fergana and Navoi airports. An arrival terminal with the capacity of up to 1,200 passengers per hour was launched in the capital for international flights. The Nukus terminal is capable of receiving 400 passengers per hour. A new passenger terminal with the capacity of up to 400 passengers per hour was opened at the Termez international airport. 

A number of other projects aimed at reconstruction and modernization of infrastructure at the republic’s airports is planned to be implemented in the medium term.

New regular flights have been opened in terms of the extension of the geographic reach of flights. Flights to Mumbai, Vladivostok, Jidda and Jakarta have been launched. The issue of opening flights in the direction of Tbilisi, Munich and Karachi is worked on. The frequency of international flights has significantly increased. For instance, the number of one of the most in-demand Tashkent-Moscow flights reached up to 21 flights per week. Together with flights made to the capital of Russia from Samarkand, Bukhara, Urganch, Termez, Namangan and Fergona this indicator reached 49. The frequency of flights from Tashkent to Seoul, Dushanbe, Bishkek, Minsk, Rostov-on- the Don, Astana and Novossibirsk has increased as well. 14 flights from the capital and 3 flights from Samarkand are made every week to Istanbul, one of the most popular directions.

To ensure favorable conditions for an operation of additional companies in the air transportation market, including low-cost carriers (lowcosters) and companies providing services to business aviation, steps are taken to attract direct foreign investments to improve infrastructure of airports, including the use of mechanisms of the public-private partnership  and cooperation with leading international companies in the field of airports management. Apart from this, the project of the concept of the Central Asian hub is being developed and aimed at step-by-step creation of the center service for transfer flows between the South-East Asian, South Asian, CIS and European points.

Taking of these measures will reduce expenditures of air companies and optimize air ticket prices for consumers, as well as increase the number of routes and flights performed in international and domestic directions, which it turn will positively contribute to the development of tourism in the Republic of Uzbekistan.

CE: What could you say about the cooperation with Azerbaijan in the field of civil aviation?

Achilbay Ramatov: The Uzbek-Azerbaijani relationship in the field of civil aviation is regulated by the agreement on air traffic and cooperation in the field of air transport reached between the governments of the Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan republics on 02.11.1996, as well as by memoranda and consultation protocols signed between aviation authorities of the two countries. Aviation authorities, as well as air companies appointed from both countries, are regularly holding bilateral consultations to develop the civil aviation cooperation between Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. The aviation authorities of both countries held negotiations within the framework of the meeting of the joint intergovernmental commission for cooperation between the Republics of Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. Discussed in the course of these negotiations were issues of liberalization of the air transport markets, prospects of further cooperation of the two countries in the field of civil aviation, consideration and signing of the aviation agreement projects. According to the results of negotiations, signed was a memorandum of understanding providing the appointed air companies of both countries a right to perform regular passenger flights with a frequency of 14 times per week from each side and regular limitless cargo flights in directions given in the supplement to the agreement. 

Formerly appointed carriers of the two countries had a right for performing regular passenger flights with a frequency of 7 times a week.

At present, regular passenger flights from Uzbekistan are performed by “O‘zbekiston Havo Yo‘llari” Air Company with a frequency of 3 times a week, and the flights from Azerbaijan are performed twice a week by Azerbaijan Airlines.

CE:  Which prospects do you see for Uzbekistan’s participation in international transport corridors such as Baku-Tbilisi-Kars, North-South, Baku International Sea Trade Port, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars?

Achilbay Ramatov: Georgraphic location specifics of Uzbekistan will let it become one of the key transit hubs of Central Asia and source of getting long-term dividends from transit transportation within the framework of trade-economic relations of Central Asian countries with Turkey, European Union, Russia, Afghanistan and countries of the Persian Gulf. Depending on the transport corridors to be chosen by the European and Central Asian consignors, the below given corridors of TRACECA  will be used: 1)  rail and road routes Kyrgyzstan-Kazakhstan-Caspian Sea-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Black Sea region or Georgia-Turkey-European Union;

2) rail and road routes Kyrgyzstan – Turkmenistan - Caspian Sea – Azerbaijan – Georgia - Black Sea region or Georgia-Turkey-European Union.

Uzbekistan’s getting dividends from trade operations and cargo transportation is possible in future at flexible and prompt response to transport and tariff policy of the European Union, at further expansion of economic and logistical cooperation of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan with the European Union by means of value chains oriented at export/import via Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan’s strategic interest in regard to the North-South international transport corridor lies mainly in general growth of interest of leading Eurasian economies in use of land corridors. If the countries-participants of the above mentioned North-South ITC manage to establish a scheme of stable, quick and cheap transportation of freights, then one of the results can be the growth of the Indian business’ interest in Central Asia, which in turn can yield dividends to Uzbekistan, including in terms of transit freight transportation.

If the operation quality of this corridor gets higher, another potential source of dividends can arise from the growth of interest of the South-East Asia countries and China (coastal economic centers in the East of the country) which can use the corridor as an option for redirecting a part of maritime freight transportation from the Suez channel. This in turn will be one of the reasons for the growth of South-East Asian exporters’ interest in Central Asian markets, especially in Uzbekistan.

CE: In your opinion, which substantial changes shall a new project of the law on transport bring into the transport industry of the country?

Achilbay Ramatov: Today there are certain legislative acts regulating the transport. These are the Uzbekistan Republic’s laws on the road transport, on railway transport, air code and many other legislative acts. But there is no single Law which would ensure optimal and balanced harmonious interaction of different types of transport.

The Ministry of Transport has started working out the draft of the law since February 2019. The draft law envisages the following important standards: regulating the development of intermodal, multimodal, mixed transportation, hub-based transportation technologies; setting of concrete requirements to transport organizations engaged in performance of mixed carriages, as well as to transport and other technical facilities used when making such types of transportation; issues of arranging mixed traffic, their basis, agreements, cost clearing, forms of single consignment vouchers (single bill of lading), responsibility, claims, etc. Moreover, the law will envisage definition of major principles of transport logistics such as: legality; focus on customer needs; security; safety; unity of procedures; equal access.

It is expected to set rules regulating transport safety, train skilled human resources for preventing terrorism in transport, organize an operation of transport facilities in emergency situations, ensure safety and environmental regulation in transport, etc. All of it will promote the creation of the legal framework ensuring real protection of national interests of Uzbekistan in the global market of transport services.

In general, adoption of the draft law on transport shall ensure harmonic development of all types of transport, mobility of population and availability of transportation services, safety and environmental friendliness of the transportation system of the republic.

Thank you for the interview

Caspian Energy (CE): Mr. Smailov, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are actively cooperating both bilaterally and within international organizations, including in the matters of implementation of large investment and transit projects. Which projects are the most demanded today and will be relevant in the coming years?

Alikhan Smailov, First Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan: First of all, necessary attention should be focused on the transit potential of the Caspian region. Kazakhstan is a member of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) international association, which brings together and represents today the interests of a number of countries and companies located along the TITR, thereby reviving the route of the historical Great Silk Road. The founders of the Association are: Kazakhstan Temir Zholy JSC NC and Aktau International Sea Trade Port from the side of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, Azerbaijan Caspian Shipping Company and Baku International Sea Port from the side of Azerbaijan, Georgian Railway JSC and Batumi Sea Port from the side of Georgia.

As a result of the coordinated efforts of all TITR members, tariffs were reduced, constant work is currently underway to maintain a competitive level of rates, the transportation process was optimized (work on emerging issues, creating a pool, etc.). Continuous marketing work is underway to attract new goods to TITR, including export from Kazakhstan and import to Kazakhstan. A regular multimodal transport service has been established along the TITR route, and the delivery of goods by road or by sea from China, Kazakhstan and Central Asia to the ports of Batumi, Baku and Poti and then to Turkey is currently in place.

The interest of large transport and logistics companies in this international corridor is increasingly growing. In particular, on June 25, 2019 Astyk-Trans JSC was admitted as an associate member of the TITR Association by decision of the general meeting in the city of Nur-Sultan. Astyk-Trans JSC specializes mainly in operating specialized rolling stock and providing freight forwarding services for grain transportation. In view of the significant growth in demand for integrated services within the framework of this multimodal service, a significant increase is expected in traffic along the TITR routes to Turkey and further to the countries of the Middle East and Southern Europe.

Further speaking of the Caspian region, one should certainly mention the oil and gas industry, namely, it is worth paying attention to the oil and gas chemical industry. The petrochemical industry is one of the most important sectors of the global economy and represents significant potential for the economy of Kazakhstan. $1 invested in the petrochemical industry generates $2.3 for the country’s economy (Eurostat, OECD, World Bank). The main competitive advantage of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the development of the oil-gas chemical industry is affordable hydrocarbon feedstock for production of deep limit products. At present, a draft law has been developed to put in place a mechanism for pricing commercial gas for investment projects in the oil and gas chemical industry. There are also plans to develop strong criteria for selection of investment projects, which require feedstock supply.

Large projects in the petrochemical industry are currently under implementation in the Republic of Kazakhstan. For example, a $2.6 billion polypropylene production complex with the capacity of 500 thousand tons per year is currently under construction in the Atyrau region. The completion date is 2021. The issue of building a $6.5 billion gas chemical complex in Atyrau region is also under consideration now. It is expected to produce 1.25 million tons of polyethylene per year.

CE: How would you evaluate the investment attractiveness of economy? Which sectors are the leading ones?

Alikhan Smailov: Though most of the foreign investment is attracted to the primary sector of Kazakhstan, the share of the manufacturing sector has been growing over the years. Already today we can state the fact that we have reached a new level in the development of attractiveness of the investment climate. We are already competing in the global market for investments in the non-primary sector. Over the years of independence large investors from the Forbes 2000 list have entered the non-oil sector of our country, including ToyotaTsusho, Danone, Vicat, Coca-Cola, Knauf, Total, Posco, Heidelberg, GE, Alstom and many others.

In general, according to the results of the IQ 2019, a number of main sectors attractive to foreign investors keep on leading in terms of the influx of foreign direct investment. They include the mining industry (60.5% or $ 3.6 billion), the manufacturing industry (16.4% or $ 1.0 billion), trade (9.8% or $0.6 billion), transport (5.1% or $0.3 billion), financial and insurance activities (2,4%, or $0.1 billion), etc.

CE: On January 1, 2019, Kazakhstan launched the tax amnesty for small and medium-sized businesses. Could you please tell about its results? How effective is the work done?

Alikhan Smailov: Indeed, the year 2019 in Kazakhstan is featuring the tax amnesty. Since the beginning of the year, an amnesty has been carried out for small and medium-sized businesses. Under the amnesty 40,000 taxpayers have paid off their main tax debts worth in total 7.7 billion tenge, and penalties and fines for a total of 2.4 billion tenge have been written off. It stands to mention that the tax amnesty is still ongoing and will last until the end of 2019. And, undoubtedly, the number of small and medium-sized businesses taking advantage of this opportunity will increase significantly. We believe that the amnesty will have a certain economic effect, the cancellation of accrued penalty feeds will enable entrepreneurs to increase working capital. This, in turn, will foster the business development.

CE: Could you please tell about the results of the new ASTANA-1 information system introduced by the Ministry of Finance in 2018, as well as about the Electronic Invoices System? Have the set objectives been achieved?

Alikhan Smailov: When using the previous information systems to process customs declarations, an inspector spent from 2 or more hours of working time. Now, when the online customs filing system is in place, the functionality of the listed information systems is implemented within the single ASTANA-1 system and all operations are carried out automatically by the system in less than one minute.

To date, more than 24,000 participants of foreign economic activity (ATEA) have passed registration in the Astana-1 IS, while more than 3,000 are the direct users of the system. Since the introduction of Astana-1 IS more than 1 million 471 thousand declarations have been processed in the system, of which 653,000 declarations are for import and export operations, 818,000 are declarations for the transit procedure, the share of auto production for all procedures (import, export, transit, other) is 83%.

At the same time, 491,000 declarations on import and export operations were processed automatically in less than 1 minute, the share of auto products is 75%. From January 1, 2019 to August 22, 2019, the share of auto production was 78%. According to the customs transit procedure, 724 thousand transit declarations were processed automatically in less than 1 minute, the share of auto products is 88%.

Thus, automation of the customs declaring procedure process enabled the Department of Foreign Economic Affairs to save money on temporary storage facilities, brokers, consultants, and also excluded other administrative resources that required significant expenses for paper declaration, such as printing a declaration with all previous documents, travel expenses, and physical waiting for a queue, filing, issuing a declaration, providing copies of a declaration to the owners of temporary storage facilities for a release of goods from temporary storage facilities, etc. In general, due to the introduction of ASTANA-1 IS in 2018, businesses saved 77.7 billion tenge, which is a positive effect from the introduction of the online customs filing system. At the same time, due to the simplification of the customs filing procedure and saving of businesses the budget additionally received 13.5 billion tenge. The import of goods also increased (excluding imports, for which privileges for the payment of customs duties and taxes are in place) to 327 380 million tenge.

Our next objective is to create a separate “Export Control” module for goods imported from the EAEU countries to track imports and transit. Further simplification of customs procedures for participants of the foreign economic activity is planned to be achieved through the introduction of a Single Window information system for export-import operations. Uniting more than 13 information resources, including the ASTANA-1 IS, the E-Licensing Security Database, various registries and other systems, which information is necessary for customs operations, a Single Window portal creates conditions when participants of the foreign economic activity should not apply to different instances to collect certain documents and permits. The future plans envisage integration with 11 more information systems of state agencies.

Through the Single Window portal foreign trade operators can receive services from more than 10 government agencies. Documents are issued by both government institutions and accredited organizations. For example, certificates of conformity will be issued by more than 90 companies that are going now to operate within a Single Window. A total of 56 documents. Most importantly, corruption will be minimized due to exclusion of the human factor in decision-making, and the transparency of customs agencies and other government institutions will increase. All this, in turn, will have a beneficial effect on a growth of economic indicators and boost an increase in competitiveness of our country on a global and regional scale.

The E-Invoicing Information System (IS ESF) was introduced in stages, as a result of which since the beginning of this year all VAT payers and taxpayers selling imported goods have become participants of the system.

The legal requirement for issuing e-VAT invoices within the IS ESF introduced in January 1, 2019 for all value added tax payers has led to an increase in the value added tax revenues. To date, about 400,000 users are registered in the E-Invoicing Information System, who issued about 280 million electronic invoices. In general, for the first half of 2019, VAT amounted to 761.9 billion tenge, including 162.5 billion tenge gained through the large-scale introduction of e-invoices.

In addition, from April 1, 2018, the Virtual Warehouse module was put in place to ensure end-to-end traceability of the movement of goods on the basis of the E-Invoicing Information System. Now the project extends to motor vehicles, household appliances and raw sugar; and the list of goods is to be expanded. The development of e-document management in the E-Invoicing Information System is ongoing, and the opportunity has already been created to issue electronic acts of performed work and electronic contracts. Integrations under public procurement contracts are also already in place to fully switch to e-document management.

CE: How is the implementation of the Comprehensive Privatization Plan for 2016-2020 ongoing? To what extent are entrepreneurs and foreign investors interested in this process?

Alikhan Smailov: For the moment 501 objects worth 497 billion tenge in various fields of activity have been implemented and handed over to the competitive environment within the framework of the Comprehensive Privatization Plan for 2016-2020. The owners of these objects were 266 legal entities and 235 individuals (individual entrepreneurs), of which 27 were foreign individuals.

At the same time, the process of selling the largest assets of the oil and gas, energy and transport sectors and national companies themselves, which are of the greatest interest to business and investors, including foreign ones, is just beginning and will continue in 2020. Their transfer to a competitive environment will be implemented through IPO. These are such companies as Air Astana JSC, Kazakhtelecom JSC, KazMunayGas NC JSC, Kazpost JSC, Samruk-Energy JSC, and Kazakhstan Temir Zholy NC JSC. The placement of shares of these companies will be carried out by simultaneous listing on the site of the Astana International Financial Center and the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

There is already the experience of issuing shares through IPO. So, on November 14, 2018, a 15% stake in Kazatomprom NAC JSC was successfully placed (13% on the London Stock Exchange and 2% on the AIFC for the first time). The shares were acquired by 49 foreign and 16 Kazakhstan legal entities, as well as about by 2,700 citizens of the country. The total share of Kazakhstani investors amounted to 47.5% of the proposed volume of shares of Kazatomprom NAC JSC. The total revenue of the raised funds amounted to 168 billion tenge, or $451 million.

There are plans to sell 2 more largest companies in the mining industry and aviation to a strategic investor (Tau-Кen Samruk National Mining Company JSC, QAZAQ AIR JSC). Along with this, I would like to note that one of the basic principles of privatization in Kazakhstan fixed at the legislative level is publicity, competition, and legal succession. For this purpose, a unified electronic trading platform is working according to the “one window” principle for sellers and buyers to implement tenders on the web portal of the State Property Register (www.gosreestr.kz). In 2015, our trading platform was recognized as the best in the world in its category at the annual competition held by the International Telecommunication Union with the support of UNCTAD, UNESCO and UNDP.

What is being sold, at what price, when and how, bidding results, as well as full information about the objects of sale can be viewed on this web portal in the Kazakh, Russian and English languages. Information on the web portal is publicly available and updated daily. There are available mobile applications on Android and IOS, as well as the operating call center. We are open to cooperation and invite entrepreneurs, investors and foreign partners to join the privatization process in Kazakhstan.

CE: You recently said that by 2025 common markets for gas, oil and oil products will be formed within the EAEU, as well as equal access to gas, oil and oil products transportation systems of the EAEU member states. How can these plans affect Kazakhstan’s cooperation with the non-EAEU countries?

Alikhan Smailov: The Program of forming the EAEU common markets of oil and of petroleum products adopted by the Decisions of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council #23 dated December 6, 2018, and the Action Plan envisage development and adoption of a number of documents, including development of Unified Rules for Access to oil and oil products transportation systems. The Rules will be developed by the Eurasian Commission, and according to the plan, the implementation period of the Rules is 2021. According to the Program, access to oil and oil products transportation systems is the provision of the right to use oil and oil products transportation systems operated by oil and oil products transportation systems operators to transport oil and oil products within the framework of the common oil and oil products markets of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The development of the Rules will be carried out in accordance with the principles specified in Article 84 of the Treaty and Sections III and IV of the Concept. The rules will regulate transportation of oil and oil products through oil and oil products transportation systems, including relations between operators of oil and oil products transportation systems of the Member States and participants of the common oil and oil products markets of the Union, determine principles and conditions for access to services in the field of oil and oil products transportation within the framework of the Union’s common oil and oil products markets, taking into account the principle of prioritized ensuring the needs of the Member States in oil and oil products. In accordance with the Appendix #22 of the Treaty on the EAEU, the Member States are gradually forming the common gas market of the Union, as well as providing access to the services of natural monopolies in the field of gas transportation through the gas transmission systems of the Member States.

According to the provisions of the Appendix #22 of the Treaty on the EAEU, as soon as all Member States take a set of measures and sign a corresponding Protocol, the Member States shall provide access for business entities of other Member States to gas transmission systems located in the territories of the Member States by means of using their existing technical capabilities, free capacities of gas transmission systems, and taking into account the agreed indicative (forecast) balance of gas of the Union and on the basis of civil contracts of business entities. Moreover, according to Paragraph 4 of the Appendix #22 of the Treaty on the EAEU, access to the services of entities of natural monopolies in the field of gas transportation is provided only for gas originating from the territory of the Member States.

The provisions of this Protocol do not apply to relations of access to the services of entities of natural monopolies in the field of gas transportation in relation to gas originating from the territories of the third states, and to relations in the field of gas transportation from and to the Union.

CE: Could you please tell about the impact of Kazakhstan’s participation in the OPEC cutback deal on the country’s budget revenues and the implementation of social projects? How effective is cooperation within OPEC +?

Alikhan Smailov: The OPEC cutback deal was signed on December 10, 2016 and was extended 4 times. The last extension for 9 months was accepted on July 1, 2019. Under the latest extension the average daily oil production shall be cut by the deal parities by ~ 1.2 million barrels per day compared o the level of October 2018. The commitment of the Republic of Kazakhstan is to maintain oil production at 1.86 million barrels per day. The deal has positively affected the stabilization of the global oil market. Oil prices stabilized at about $60 per barrel.

Thank you for the interview

In today’s era when economy coupled with its environmental constituent is frequently sacrificed for political ambitions or simply kept to the background, small and medium business interests are ignored completely. However, it is this class which is electoral, economically and socially active, and forms the basis of GDP almost in all developed economies. Churchill’s well-known “diversification, diversification and once again diversification…” statement is the very same principle which contributed into the development of Great Britain’s services sector constituting ¾ GDP in the island economy, as well as that of industry (18.6% of GDP) and agricultural sector ensuring 2/3 of food supply to the UK population. Today it is the 10th economy of the world in terms of the GDP at purchasing power parity for 2018.

The country is importing 6 times as much industrial goods as raw materials.  The USA is the biggest exporter into the UK. 7 out of 10 leading suppliers of goods into Great Britain are the EU states. It is the latter with whom the businesses will have to establish quite new relations because of Brexit, introduce real financial control levers, starting from floating interest rates right up to creation of quite unprecedented incentives for small and medium business development, and special funds enabling to compensate possible losses of business. 

Therefore, never raised at the G20 and G7 summits was the issue of mitigating the Brexit or no-deal Brexit effects on the world economy, or this matter simply stayed out of sight of the World Media. Besides, the consequences of a possible rejection of a backstop with Northern Ireland (whereby this border will remain the only open and transparent “door” into the EU for the whole UK) require its maintaining or a clear extraordinary plan going beyond the limits of Brexit, which can cost much.

Issues of energy security, development of new spot markets and short-term deals, consolidation in the fight against climate change and development of incentives for small and medium-sized businesses, of course, require a more active stance and close attention. How assessed are the risks of the British and other oil companies which in one way or another are engaged in the upstream development projects in the Caspian Sea. The situation remains far from optimistic and the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend the parliament till October 14 marks an escalation of hostile actions, Bloomberg reports. His manner of negotiation with the European leaders, characterized “by the feet on the table” rather reminds  the long-forgotten “Khrushchev’s boot” at the UN General Assembly in the midst of the Caribbean crisis and his famous “Pokazhem vsem Kuzkinu mat!” which meaning  linguists are still trying to find out. 

In this regard, the House of Lords of Great Britain pushes on the Premier and still leaves him an opportunity to exit the EU without a deal. The draft of the law approved by the parliamentarians, in particular, implies that the British government shall try to reach a new agreement with the EU at the European Council’s meeting on October 18. Apart from this, till October 18 it has a right to submit a request to the parliament about possible no-deal brexiting. This item implies that tough Brexit will be possible only with the approval of legislators. If none of these conditions is fulfilled, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will have to request the Brussels to extend the operation of the 50th article of the Lisbon treaty till January 31, 2020.

In reality, it does not make a big difference whether it is going to be an agreed or no-deal Brexit. The factor of unpredictability, Einstein’s chaos control theory, will certainly make the government to control the economy manually and  in such case “a man can for  sure die but once”.

More so that the present Premier has repeatedly stated that he will anyway make the Brexit happen. 

Apparently, the British Minister of Finance will have to prepare a solid and long-term “insurance pad” and the treasury will have to pay compensation to business for possible loss of trade preferences with the EU for a certain period. It is also conceivable that a trade war between the United States, the EU and China will help Brexit, since the territory of Ireland does not fall under the strict tariffs imposed on US goods by the EU and China, and American companies could move their headquarters to Ireland.

Still, another meeting of the Knights of the Round Table, this time in G7 format, on August 26 in Biarritz, was constructive, attended by the US President Donald Trump. The parties managed to sign a final communiqué, reduce tension on the Iranian issues and inject hope into the solution of the Ukrainian crisis in the “Normandy Four” format. It is noteworthy that in Biarritz Donald Trump insisted on Russia’s return to G-8 as soon as possible, without delay. The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was the only one who actively supported him.

In regard to the Ukrainian problem the G7’s summary statement says that “France and Germany will arrange a summit in the “Normandy format” in coming weeks in order to achieve concrete results”. The meeting can also be credited with Donald Trump’s statement about the American-British trade agreement – the most scalable in history – soon to be signed with the “fantastic Prime Minister” Boris Johnson. The American leader did not attend the plenary session dedicated to the climate, stating that he had meetings with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Though, journalists found both Merkel and Modi sitting at the table of the “climate session” at that time.

Trade issues have been included into the first paragraph of the outcome document of G7. The leaders of the member states called for the reformation of the WTO. Moreover, politicians stressed the necessity of drawing up the agreement in order to have the international taxation system modernized within the framework of the Organization Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2020. “G7 adheres to open and fair world trade and stable global economy. G7 asks Finance Ministers to monitor the situation in the global economy. For this reason G7 wants to make deep changes in WTO in order to make it more effective in terms of protection of intellectual property, and to settle disagreements faster and prevent unfair practices”, says the statement quoted by the press service of the Elysian palace.

“G7 is committed to reach the agreement in 2020 in order to ease regulatory barriers and modernize the international taxation in the frame of the OECD”.

G20 leaders also stated about the necessity of the WTO reformation during the Osaka meeting held June 2019.

The G20 leaders confirmed their aspiration towards free and fair trade, expressed the need for WTO reform, says the declaration passed at the end of their meeting in the Japanese city of Osaka. “We strive to achieve free, fair, undiscriminated, transparent, predictable and stable trade and conditions for investments, and to keep markets open”, says the declaration. 

An agreement worth $7billion and signed between Japan and the USA has also been an achievement of the G7 meeting. It implies import of agricultural products from the USA. Perhaps, it was the only practical agreement which had become a real outcome of this summit.

As a follow-up of the summit meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar made a statement while addressing the “Valdai” Discussion Club.

He stated: “We understand that the US influence is changing in the world today. This country used to think that it could dominate everywhere while such opportunities exist no longer now. The USA admits it itself. A large number of players, influencing the international policy and one another, is emerging”, TASS reports the words of the Indian minister.

The Indian Minister of External Affairs also noted that loss of influence by one state and one civilization in the context of globalization is evident, while strengthening of the “G20’ status in contrast to “G7” is an ample evidence of it: “We came to a point when G7 is replaced by G20 which is now the most important international club. The G20 format shows that understanding of the world has changed...”

Indeed, the latest G7 and G20 proceedings with almost the same agendas have shown that  neither formats nor the political but rather the economic – trade and investment components are the basis of all today’s globalization processes, which  was mentioned marginally almost by all world leaders. As one of the meeting participants told Media, since the small and medium business, private sector, innovations and technologies are the backbone of all the economies of the developed countries today, the issue of creating such industry-specific formats for business meetings was raised in the course of the sessions. This, in turn, will promote the growth of and stimulate the world trade, while the system of taxation, standards and rules offered by business within the framework of WTO may turn out more effective and efficient by the next Summit in 2020.

Quarter of a century has passed since the first international agreement on exploration, development and production sharing for the Azeri and Chirag fields and the deep water portion of the Gunashli field was signed under the supervision of the National Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev in Baku on 20 September 1994.

The Contract of the Century nowadays can only be compared to the “Roman law”, which is today the basis of the legislation of many highly developed Western countries, it is the “economic constitution”, an ode to independence, the history of which is being written in gold letters even today by a country that always has a chance for success by applying the model of the century’s contract in all areas of economy, thus fully diversifying its economy.

- It is no secret that energy security issues are of big importance today. Energy security issues imply national security of countries. Imagine if the Contract of the Century had not been  signed in 1994 and Azerbaijan would not have exported its rich oil-gas resources to the world markets, our economic condition could be quite different, President Ilham Aliyev says.

-  In 2011 the European Union and Azerbaijan adopted a joint declaration concerning the Southern Gas Corridor.

- The Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council meeting is annually hosted in Baku at our initiative. The 5th meeting took place in February of this year. We certainly have no doubts that we will ensure successful implementation of this giant project as there are no problems left today, both in terms of the international cooperation and in terms of financial resources, in order to get this project done. 

- We can get such giant projects implemented only within the framework of the international cooperation. It is impossible to have them realized without it.  We managed to achieve it owing to oil and gas pipelines, making of investments, involvement of international financial institutions and of course thanks to joint efforts.

- Creation of the State Oil Fund and solution of the most important issues via this fund also turned out possible owing to our successful oil policy. The State Oil Fund financed the construction of more than 100 towns for displaced persons. Diversification of economy of Azerbaijan and making investments into infrastructure projects are also associated right with these projects. In recent years we have implemented our main infrastructure projects and the work in this direction is ongoing. Issues concerning road construction, provision of gas supply and electricity are also successfully handled in Azerbaijan. Provision of gas supply reached 95%. It would be impossible if we did not have sufficient gas resources. The major task facing the country today is to lower dependence on the oil-gas factor and develop the non-oil sector. Important measures are taken in this direction as well. In the World Bank’s latest report on business environment index Azerbaijan is taking the 25th position on a global scale.

- We are successfully implementing the program on regional development.  We certainly have to keep working in order to have our budget filled mainly at the expense of the non-oil sector and we are getting close to this goal. However, you have to know that the oil-gas sector will remain a priority for us, the President said.

Honda 2025-ci ilin noyabrına qədər mühərrik həcmi 50 kub və daha kiçik olan mopedlərin və o cümlədən dünyanın ən çox satılan Super Cub seriyasının istehsalını dayandıracaq.

Caspian Energy Media Marja.az-a istinadən xəbər verir ki, qərarın səbəbi daha sərt istismar standartları və işlənmiş qaz emissiyası tələblərinin tətbiqidir. Bundan əlavə, elektrik velosipedlərinin, skuterlərin və motosikletlərin geniş yayılması səbəbindən belə mopedlərin satışı indi minimum səviyyədədir.

Daha ətraflı

Президент Кыргызской Республики Садыр Жапаров сегодня, 24 июня, с рабочим визитом вылетел в Королевство Бельгия.

В рамках визита, который состоится 24-26 июня, Глава государства встретится с Королем Бельгии Филиппом. В тот же день состоится официальная встреча Президента Садыра Жапарова с Президентом Европейского Совета Шарлем Мишелем.

Об этом сообщает Caspian Energy Media со ссылкой на Официальный сайт Президента Кыргызской Республики.

Советник главного исполнительного директора по вопросам аудита Группы компаний Veysəloğlu Ильгар Нури дал интервью Caspian Energy Media на встрече B2G, организованной «Caspian Energy Club».

«Мы уже длительное время являемся членами «Caspian Energy Club». Клуб играет важную роль в сотрудничестве между государственным и частным секторами. Мы постоянно чувствуем его важное влияние на развитие экономики, а также общества. В этом году исполняется 25 лет бренду «Caspian Energy». Во главе с председателем и главным исполнительным директором группы Caspian Energy Club Тельманом Алиевым, я поздравляю всех с данным событием и желаю успехов в дальнейшей деятельности», - сказал Ильгар Нури.

Группа компаний Veysəloğlu начала свою деятельность в 1994 году как торгово-дистрибьюторская компания. Сегодня Группа компаний Veysəloğlu является одним из крупнейших работодателей ненефтяного сектора Азербайджана (оптовая, розничная торговля, логистические услуги и производство), численность персонала которого превышает 23 тысячи человек. Основная миссия Группы - предоставлять своим клиентам качественную продукцию по разумным ценам, способствовать развитию поставщиков путем построения надежных партнерских отношений, создавать для своих сотрудников справедливую рабочую среду, в которой они смогут реализовать свой потенциал, поддерживать устойчивое развитие, выполняя свои обязательства перед обществом и окружающей средой.

Подробнее