Government reshuffling started

Presidential decrees setting up new ministries and abolishing some old ones were published Thursday. The decrees call for the establishment of the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, Ministry of Youth, Sports and Tourism, the State Land and Mapping Committee.

Among the abolished entities are the council for foreign tourism under the Cabinet of Ministers, state committee on inter-ethnic affairs, the state insurance surveillance committee under the Cabinet of Ministers, whose functions have been transferred to the Ministry of Finance, the state land committee and the state committee for geodesy and mapping.

The President has also dismissed chairmen of executive power committees in Astara, Goychay and Salyan provinces of Azerbaijan.

The Ministry of Fuel and Energy, which will supervise over SOCAR, "AzerEnergy" and "AzeriGas", will be led by Majid Karimov, former director of the "GiproMorNeftGas" Institute. Abulfas Garayev, former minister for youth and sports, will now lead the Ministry for Youth, Sports and Tourism, while the State Land and Mapping Committee will be chaired by Garib Mammadov, ex-chairman of the State Land Committee.*