Business

CASPIAN OIL & GAS SHOW

By Azernews Staff

The annual international Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference is due in Baku on June 4-7 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The Caspian Oil and Gas 2002 organizer is Spearhead Exhibitions Ltd - who run the event in partnership with the Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce and Industry. President of SOCAR Natig Aliyev and Dr Kenneth P Forrest, former Director, Oil and Gas International Directorate, UK Government, are expected to act as Joint Conference Chairmen.

This year's ninth conference with its theme "Harnessing the Caspian Potential for Global Markets" will run for two days, June 5 and 6. "What a packed two days it is going to be," says Project Director, Suzanne Morris. "Our first day is a Regional Field Development and Transport Update. Providing a comprehensive Regional update is one of the key strengths of the Caspian Oil and Gas conference, offering all who attend a detailed 'one stop' update from the experts in the field, those who are working on, or overseeing these massive projects on a daily basis", he said.

Doctor Mejid Kerimov, Azerbaijan's new Minister for Fuel and Energy will address the conference for the first time, and speakers and topics on the opening day will include David Woodward (Associate President BP and President AIOC) speaking on Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli Full Field Development; Mike Townshend, General Manager, Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline speaking on the BTC line, etc.

Actual and predicted expenditure at these levels ensure a feeling of understandable optimism in Azerbaijan and the wider Region, which is certainly reflected in exhibition space bookings at Caspian Oil and Gas 2002, and will undoubtedly see conference speakers making their presentations to a packed hall.

Day two of the show will be devoted to 2020 Vision - Meeting Caspian Energy Industry Supply Demands addressing the challenges and strategy through the eyes of oil and gas companies, contractors and SMEs. The final topic to come under the "annual microscope" is International Financial Endorsement of Caspian Industry Development when organizations with global investment portfolios such as the World Bank, EBRD as well as regional investment banks will explain their policy in the Region.

Last year's event attracted 335 exhibiting companies from 28 countries and more than 15,000 visitors, of whom 10,000 were trade, from a record 57 countries. Significantly, over a third of the exhibitors at the 2001 event were new to market and eager to stake their claim to involvement in this dynamic oil and gas province - a high proportion of them have already booked stands at this year's show, eager to build on the foundations they laid last year.

The detailed program will be published on the show web site at www.caspianoilgas.co.uk by March and be available shortly after in printed form.

AZERBAIJAN, UNDP SIGN PROJECT ON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES

By Azernews Staff

The Azerbaijan government and the UNDP signed a joint project on the development of a national strategy for information technologies and its application in the first stage. The project is believed to pave the way for transition to an informed civic society, the UN Baku Office reported.

The goal is to devise a national strategy for information technologies and its implementation in selected industries. The first stage of the project aims to launch a national dialogue and its development, forge close relations with international organizations, make a right choice of priority areas, and raise personnel in state-run entities to put the strategy to work.

The project totaling $1,200,000, $600,000 by the UNDP and the rest by the Azerbaijan government, is to be implemented in two years.

PROJECT TO GET BSBCD LOAN

$4 million worth of the loan the Black Sea Bank for Commerce and Development has allotted the International Bank of Azerbaijan will be used to implement a project, an IBA source reported Monday. Several projects are being processed now and the beneficiary organization will be announced in March The loan was allocated for 4 years at a rate of Libor plus 4%, with the precondition that the beneficiary should be a company attending to imports and exports with the countries in the Black Sea basin.

IBA SETTING UP INSURANCE COMPANY

The International Bank of Azerbaijan is setting up an insurance company with a charter capital totaling $5 million. The documents on the establishment are currently being processed at the Ministry of Justice, an IBA source said Saturday. The charter capital of the new operation fifty times exceeds the minimum set for statutory funds of insurance companies. A joint company may also be founded should worthy proposals come from foreign companies, the source indicated.