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PARLIAMENT DELEGATION OFF TO TURKEY
An Azeri parliament delegation led by speaker Murtuz Alasgarov left for Turkey Monday. The delegation also includes vice-speaker Z. Asgarov, MPs A. Rzayev, A. Ahmadov, N. Jafarov, S. Imamverdiyev, and I. Omarov, the Milli Mejlis told Azernews.
The delegation is expected to meet with the Turkish President, Prime Minister, Speaker of the Great National Assembly, and other officials.
The visit is being paid on the invitation of the Turkish parliament and will last till July 14.
CASPIAN STATUS DUE ON AGENDA IN ASHGABAT
Dominating the talks between the Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev in Astana, Kazakhstan, was the Caspian status issue. Information agencies have quoted President Niyazov as stating that a meeting of littoral countries' presidents was due in Ashgabat on 26-27 October, which is expected to achieve a major breakthrough in resolving the status problem. In addition, the Turkmen president reiterated during the negotiations that the disputed Kapaz field (which Turkmenistan calls Sardar) belongs to Turkmenistan.
A Caspian summit was earlier scheduled for May, but never took place.
IRAN'S AZERI-ORIGIN MPs PERSECUTED
Member of the Iranian parliament's presidium, Ali Shakuri Rad, and member of the security and foreign policy Mejlis, Dr. Akbar Alami, have been subpoenaed to court on charges of misinformation, while another MP from the Azeri-populated town of Hamadan, Hussein Logmanian, has been in jail for 13 months facing the same charges, a source from the Union for Integral Azerbaijan in Baku told Azernews Monday.
Azeri sources in Tabriz are quoted as describing the crackdown as an effort to force Iran's Azeri MPs into giving up their struggle for the rights of Azeris in Iran.
TOTALFINAELF MISSION EXPECTED IN BAKU LATE JULY
Representatives of TotalFinaElf are expected to visit Baku late in July to hold commercial talks on the shallow portion of the Gunashli field. The focus will also be on further exploration and appraisal work in the Lankaran-Daniz/Talysh-Daniz field.
SOCAR told Azernews Thursday that TotalFinaElf announced its intention to embark on negotiations over the shallow portion of Gunashli back in May. The field currently produces two-thirds of SOCAR's total oil output, while its reserves are estimated at 100 million tons.
According to the source, SOCAR is not going to make any concessions at the stage of commercial negotiations and will be dictating its own terms.
As far as Lankaran-Daniz/Talysh-Daniz is concerned, both wells here have come out dry and TotalFinaElf wants SOCAR to guarantee a compensation of $12 million in case a third well also turns out sterile. This issue is believed to be of primary importance in the talks.
TotalFinaElf's Baku office confirmed the visit report, but declined to provide further details on the gist of the negotiations.
STEAM GENERATING FACILITY PUT INTO SERVICE IN SUMGAYIT
President Aliyev, Prime Minister Rasizadeh and other high-ranking government officials attended the inaugural ceremony of a newly-built steam generating facilities at the Sumgayit ethylene-polypropylene plant Saturday.
Built by Japan's "Nichimen", the facility will generate 32 MW of electrical energy and 480 tons of steam an hour, which is three times the capacity of the previous facility.
Construction started in July of 1999 using the credit of over $90 million provided by Japan's EximBank.
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Issue No.N28 (210), 2001
OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs arrivesLatvian foreign minister in BakuGroup-4 securitas in BakuAzerbaijan to open new embassiesAzeri journalists meet with Lebanese presidentNews digestNationBusinessOil & gas news
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