The international movement Transparency International published its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. Compared with last year, Azerbaijan has somewhat improved the performance, getting 29 points and sharing the 119th place with Russia, Guyana and Sierra Leone in the list of 168 countries.
Last year Azerbaijan took the 126th place among 175 countries.
The research carried out for the 21st time reflects the degree of corruption in the public sector on a scale from 0 (the highest level of perceived corruption) to 100 (lowest). So the figure of Azerbaijan is far below average.
The first three places are occupied by Denmark, Finland and Sweden. On the last places are Somalia, North Korea, and Afghanistan.
Among the countries of the former Soviet Union the best results are for Estonia - 23th place, Lithuania (32), Latvia (40), and Georgia (48), while the worst are for Turkmenistan (154), Uzbekistan (153), Tajikistan (136) and Ukraine - 130.
The Azerbaijani branch of Transparency International notes that almost all the indicators for 2014 remained the same. A positive effect was achieved due to the single window system – ASAN Service. However, the Freedom House report on the countries in the transaction period pushed Azerbaijan to the rear position. It is also affected by decline in economic performance due to falling prices of oil, incorrect devaluation of the manat, and the banking sector’s opacity, which caused damage to the welfare of the population.
According to the founder of the Economic Research Center Gubad Ibadoglu, the lack of progress in the country's position on the Corruption Perceptions Index reflects negative tendencies with a corruption component. "Ongoing surveys show that almost 85% of the local population believes that corruption is the main obstacle for development. Over 80% of the respondents of the local polls are for the ratification of Article 20 of the UN Convention on the fight against corruption, Illicit Enrichment, which provides for the introduction of criminal penalties, if an official could not explain the origin of the funds spent on the purchase of his property. -0--
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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