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 OSCE PA President Joao Soares (Portugal) recently discussed his priorities for the coming year, APA reports. “But I am also concerned with the other so-called frozen conflicts, such as Nagorno-Karabakh. Goran Lenmarker is following this situation closely, and we hope that we can take initiatives at the parliamentary level as far as the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, involving Azerbaijan and Armenia, is concerned,” he added. |
 U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan Anne Derse has today met with Chairman of Central Election Commission (CEC) Mazahir Panahov, CEC press service told APA. The ambassador said the development of democracy in Azerbaijan was of great importance for the US as a close partner. Anne Derse concerned herself with the commission’s work on preparations for March 18 referendum. CEC Chairman said the schedule had been prepared in connection with the referendum. |
 Azerbaijan-based Union of Free Consumers has released the results of research as part of a project so-called Consumers Initiative to Protect Biodiversity. The Project Coordinator Eyyub Huseynov said that the research was done on the analysis of the composition of bird food in 4 broiler farms in Azerbaijan. As it turned out, the farm bought food from Russia, Brazil, Argentina and Latvia, and in most cases, the feed contains soybean cake. According to him, this was mixed with genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and then used to feed poultry. |
 President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) Mahmud Karimov interviewed by APA. -There exist various views on 23 bodies, which have been found in the cemetery while transferring 26 Baku commissars from Sahil Park. What is the academy’s official position on this issue? -Investigations should be carried out there in order to express official position. We do not know yet whom these bodies belong to. Unfortunately, the majority of the archival documents were lost during the Soviet times. |
 Youth Union of New Azerbaijan Party held roundtable dedicated to Feb 2 – Youth Day on Jan 30. According to APA, members of the Youth Union of the party attended the event. Speaking at the event, the chairman of the New Azerbaijan Party Youth Union Ramil Hasanov said that the union displayed high activity in social-political processes last year. According to the information of NAP Managment Board, last year 52.3 % of the new members of the party were youths. |
 “We discuss Nagorno-Karabakh and also the EU neighborhood strategy and cooperation in other focus during my visit to the region”, Special Representative of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly for Nagorno-Karabakh and South Caucasian conflicts Goran Lenmarker told APA exclusively. Lenmarker said during the OSCE PA winter session he would submit report about the results of his visit. “I hope that it will be an agreement between your countries. I think it is extremely important. Foreign ministers and presidents met in Zurich. |
 Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev met with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Davos, President’s press service told APA. The presidents exchanged views on the bilateral relations and economic ties between Azerbaijan and Israel. President Ilham Aliyev also met with Chief Executive of BP Tony Hayward. They spoke about long-lasting effective cooperation between Azerbaijan and BP, underlined the increasing role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security and expressed their confidence that the cooperation with BP would extend. |
 Azerbaijan’s Interior Ministry has today held a board meeting on the results of the work done for combating crimes, ensuring public order and public safety last year and on the future tasks. The ministry’s press service told APA that Interior Minister Colonel-General Ramil Usubov made a report on the outcomes of the year. Ramil Usubov said 21,692 crimes were recorded in the reporting year. 89 percent (18,533) of them were less grave crimes not posing serious public threat, 11 percent (2266) of them were grave crimes. |
 Youth and Sport Minister Azad Rahimov gave interview to the mass media. APA reports that in his interview the minister touched on Youth Day and other issues. -What will be the priorities of the youth policy in 2009? -Youth employment remains the priority of our ministry. This is one of the main problems of our country. You know that people under 35 make up 60 percent of the country’s population. |
 A seminar “Garabagh’s way after Kosovo” has been held in the Michigan University, in the United States. According to APA’s US bureau, speaking at the seminar organized by the Armenian Researches Programme of the university, the Swiss expert of Armenian origin Vichken Cheteryan said that no serious talks in the direction of the conflict solution took place after the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents’ meeting in Key-West in 2001 |
 Public Union for Captives and Hostages Assistance “Way of Sorrow” Youth Organization issued statement on the occasion of February 2, Youth Day. The Union’s sources told APA tens of Azerbaijani young people are still in Armenian-captivity, said the statement. Nearly 5000 Azerbaijani citizens were missing as a result of Armenian aggression against Azerbaijan. |
 Ganira Pashayeva, member of Azerbaijani delegation to PACE addressed the plenary session of PACE and joined discussions on feminicide. She spoke about measures were taken on gender equality, increase of role of women in society, combating all kind of tortures committed against women and noted that State Committee on Family, Women and Children Affairs functioned on these issues. |
 The Russian and Azerbaijani defense ministers discussed bilateral cooperation on Jan. 30, ITAR-TASS quoted spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Colonel Aleksey Kuznetsov as saying. “Today, Russian Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov met with Azerbaijani Defense Minister General-Colonel Safar Abiyev who recently visited Russia,” Kuznetsov said. |
 U.S. congressmen will soon learn about the Khojali genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijanis. “We will meet with congressmen in February and inform them about the Khojali genocide. We plan to distribute CDs with records of the tragedy to the congressmen,” Turkish-U.S. Associations Federation President Kaya Boztepe told Trend News in a telephone conversation from New York on Jan. 30. |
 The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will consider new initiatives to resolve conflicts in the South Caucasus. “We will consider new initiatives to resolve conflicts in the South Caucasus at a parliamentary level,” OSCE Parliamentary Assembly head Joao Soares said, according to the organization’s Web site. The initiatives will be discussed after OSCE Special Representative on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict and Georgia Goran Lennmarker visits the region. |
 On Jan. 30, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) decided to send observers for the referendum vote in Azerbaijan. “The Council of Europe (CE) will not hold special meeting on referendum in Azerbaijan as it will take place soon. The PACE bureau decided there is no need for large delegation. Roughly 10 CE MPs will observe referendum vote,” head of the Azerbaijani delegation to the PACE and organization’s Vice President Samad Seyidov said to Trend News. |
 Member of Azerbaijani delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Ganira Pashayeva distributed a document among the parliamentarians at the meeting of the winter session on the Guba mass burial cemetery, APA’s Europe bureau reports. The document says that the Guba mass burial cemetery in Azerbaijan is a consequence of Armenian atrocities and constates the fraudness of the so-called Armenian genocide. |
 Goran Lennmarker, OSCE PA President’s Special Representative for the South Caucasus and Nagorno-Karabakh conflict will visit Azerbaijan on February 12-14, 2009, Klas Bergman, Director of Communications OSCE Parliamentary Assembly told APA. To him, Lennmarker will visit Yerevan on February 9, Tbilisi on February 10. During his visit to Baku on February 12 he will meet MPs and government representatives. Schedule of his visit will be determined soon. |
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has sent Robertino Macalde and Jerry Vellens to Azerbaijan for consultation on the projects undertaken within the scope of the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Programme. The objective of the consultations are aimed at preparing the capacity building framework of the customs officials and other stakeholders in trade facilitation process of the CAREC participating countries. |
 The official presentation of the European Azerbaijan Society (EAS) was held in Baku. Members of the Parliament, representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Baku, as well as governmental and non-governmental organizations, international organizations, business people, activists of the European community attended the ceremony, APA reports. Tale Heydarov, Chairman of the European Azerbaijan Society, spoke about the goals of the society. |
 Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection legalized employment of more than 20 000 workers in 2008 through measures to enforce employment agreements. Vahab Mammadov, Employment and Demography Officer at the Ministry, said the monitoring of employment agreements between workers and employers is under way. |
 Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov has sent a letter to the U.S. Helsinki Commission clarifying the country’s foreign radio broadcasting regulations, Azerbaijani Embassy in the US told APA’s correspondent in Washington. In his letter addressed to commission leadership—Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Florida), Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Maryland) and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-New Jersey)—Minister Mammadyarov made clear that the decision of the National Television and Radio Council (NTRC) on the discontinuation of broadcasts of foreign radio companies via national frequencies seeks to implement the 2002 “Law on Television and Radio Broadcasting,” legislation that was previously examined by experts from the Council of Europe. |
 Azerbaijan’s representation to Mexico presented books published by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation – “True facts about Karabakh”, “La Mitomania Armenia” (Spanish), as well as Chingiz Fataliyev’s “Azerbaijani Painting” anthology to the library of Mexico City- based Ibero-American University (Universidad Iberomericana), one of the largest libraries in Latin America, press service of the Azerbaijani foreign ministry told APA. |
 The Co-Chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group released a statement today, OSCE Office in Baku told APA. "The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group (Ambassador Bernard Fassier - France; Ambassador Yuri Merzlyakov - Russian Federation; Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza - United States) traveled to Baku on January 19, 2009, where they met with President Ilham Aliyev and Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov, and to Yerevan on January 20, 2009, where they met with President Serzh Sarkisyan and Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian. |
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