The contract on realization of Trans-Anatolia Gas Pipeline Project was submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.  According to Turkish Press, TANAP contract between Turkey and Azerbaijan was signed on October 25, 2011, in Izmir. According to contract, 10 bcm of gas from 16 bcm of gas to be extracted in Azerbaijan will be transported via this pipeline to Europe.

Baku Metro will ensure good passenger transportation in Baku during Eurovision-2012 song contest, spokesperson for Baku Metro Nazakat Tanriverdiyeva told Trend on Thursday. "Baku metro employees have attended special courses to help them work with the influx of foreign tourists," she said. She added that Baku metro has a distinctive approach to security measures.

From next year, residents of Baku will be able to obtain the necessary addresses in e-form, said the Chairman of the Committee on Property Issues Karam Hasanov. ‘In future, people will get addresses via the Internet in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will be the first country in the CIS space, which will apply this service’. Hasanov noted that establishment of the information base of the Address Register would be completed by the end of this year: ‘We started this work in Baku and have already finished it in 8 districts. Works in other districts of Baku will be concluded by the year-end’.

Prospects for the development of Azerbaijan's economy in the short term are generally favourable, the deputy director of the IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department (MCD), Nadeem Ilahi, said at a press conference in Baku on Wednesday. "In 2011, the main indicator of economic development of the country namely the non-oil GDP grew by 9.9 per cent. This is a very good indicator. This year, we expect non-oil GDP growth at six per cent. The volume of hydrocarbon production is unlikely to increase," Ilahi said.

Today, the second meeting of Economic Cooperation Organization states’ heads of companies on promotion of trade kicked of in Baku. The meeting was organized by AZPROMO and the issues on strengthening of commercial and economic cooperation among the ECO member-states are discussed at the meeting.  Azerbaijani Deputy Minister of Economic Development Sevinj Hasanova spoke about the several macro economic performances of the country and noted that, investments in Azerbaijan’s economy continued to increase last year.

In the first half of May, 500 new London Taxis will be ready for operation in Baku, Baku Taxi Company head Ilgar Gasimov told Trend on Monday. He said 500 new cars are already in Baku and will soon be provided with the necessary equipment. "After equipping cars with all the necessary they will be ready for use," Gasimov said. To provide quality services the drivers of new cars have passed special courses.

The Georgian-Azerbaijani business forum, organized by the Business Time Georgia magazine, will be held in Tbilisi on Monday. From Azerbaijani side, it will be attended by representatives of construction and development companies, as well as other business sectors. In 2011, the Business Time Georgia and Azerbaijani magazine Business Time concluded a memorandum of cooperation, based on which Georgian-Azerbaijani business forum will be held at the Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on April 30.

"The Commission is neutral where the gas ends up in Europe, and it supports all pipelines in the EU, not only Nabucco but also TAP for example," Marlene Holzner, a spokesperson of EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, told Trend over phone from Brussels. Hungarian MOL has serious concerns over the Nabucco gas pipeline project and is ready to sell its share in it, the company's official stated week.

Azerbaijan and Turkey intend to realize joint projects in information technologies sphere, said Minister of Communications and IT Ali Abbasov. To him, today, Azerbaijan needs big projects for provision production of products and services based on scientific-technical novelties, which necessary for economic development and competitiveness of them in foreign markets: “From this viewpoint, Azerbaijan will benefit from Turkey and in turn, Turkey will use Azerbaijan’s current potential.

Russian Gazprom unlikely to permit Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to sell their gas to Europe through its pipelines, Gazprom's Information Department told Trend via e-mail on Thursday. "It will unlikely to take place," the Information Department said. Earlier, the Deputy Director General of Kyrgyz gas company "Kyrgyzgaz" Eugene Orlenko said that Gazprom would supply Kazakh and Uzbek gas to Kyrgyzstan, KyrTag reported.