Alliance of Pro-government NGOs Teaches Objectivity to Foreigners

The coalition of pro-government associations, called "Alliance of NGOs" has launched a project entitled "Bringing into compliance the views of local and international NGOs on the presidential elections of 2013."

According to a press release from the Alliance, the project is funded by the State Council for the support of NGOs, and a joint conference of local and international NGOs is assured on this. International institutions will be encouraged to cooperate with "impartial and non-monopolized NGOs."

The project will last for three months and during this period through the social networks Facebook and Twitter international NGOs will be regularly sent information to "create a positive image of Azerbaijan".

Alliance intends to share information and "the creation of conditions for holding fair and transparent elections," according to a press release.

The representative of the Alliance Rufiz Gonagov told Turan that the project is not limited to the presidential election.

"The goal is to raise the output of Azerbaijani NGOs on the international level," he said.

As for the name of the project, we are not talking about the common views of local and international NGOs, but are attracting the interest of a wide network of local and international NGOs to monitor the elections, he said.

Answering the question what does the phrase "working with" non-monopolized NGOs" mean, Gonagov said that foreign agencies usually get information from three or four NGOs to form the basis of this information. Now, they will get the full information.

The Alliance, which was created in 2011, is composed of 53 NGOs. -05D/B06-