Miscellaneous

German-French Yelisei agreement marked in Baku
The German and French embassies in Azerbaijan are jointly implementing a celebration program dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Yelisei agreement. A meeting of the French and German communities was held at Kappelhaus on Wednesday following a concert of chamber music conducted at Kirche. Besides, it is envisaged to organize a French and German films festival in the spring. The organizers are planning to hold a Music Holiday on June 21, and present 835 CDs produced with audio materials of 1902-1914 within the frameworks of the Azerbaijani musical heritage preservation program. An exhibition of photos featuring Paris and Berlin shot by foreigners will close the celebration program in November.

Seismological stations revamped with US-made equipment
The head of the seismological service center of the Academy of Sciences, Arif Hasanov, held a news conference on Thursday. He told journalists that 15 seismological stations including the center had been refurbished with equipment manufactured by the US-based Kinemetrics company that would complete the installations in April. Furthermore, training sessions will be conducted to raise local specialists. According to Arif Hasanov, the reconstructed stations will be capable of registering all data at the moment of an earthquake and transmit digital indicators to the center in Baku, which will be stored in database.  Intercommunication among the stations will be conducted via a satellite rented from the DELTA company at $15,000-20,000 per year. In total, the government has allocated funds worth $1.625m for the purchase and installation of the equipment. Visiting project manager of Kinemetrics Metias Frank said that the world's leading seismological stations applied the company-made equipment for its good quality and effective performance. Azerbaijan is the first CIS country to implement this project, he added.