Media Review for May 11, 2020

The country's transformation into an exporter of electricity and natural gas, the situation with control in the field of public procurement, the fight against corruption and bribery, and the situation in the field of tourism and services are topics of today's media.

The newspaper Azerbaijan cites the statements of Ilham Aliyev to the Russian magazine National Defense. The head of state said that Azerbaijan is turning into an exporter of electricity and natural gas. Since 2000, over 30 power plants have been built in the country and for several years Azerbaijan has been exporting excess electricity.

Much attention is paid to environmental safety and renewable energy development. Two large foreign companies with extensive experience have signed preliminary agreements with Azerbaijan. Two power plants with a total capacity of 440 megawatts will be built at the expense of foreign investors, one of which will produce electricity from the wind, and the other from the sun.

The website Azpolitika.info discusses the activities of the Accounts Chamber in the field of budget control. The issue was updated against the backdrop of the recent arrests of heads of executive authorities and senior officials of the Ministry of Culture.

The main activity of the Accounts Chamber is the audit of expenditures and revenues of the state budget, as well as extrabudgetary state funds, and informing the parliament about violations.

However, the activities of the Accounts Chamber in these areas cannot be called satisfactory. Moreover, the fact that the Accounting Chamber discovered the misuse of 75 million manats of budget funds is unconvincing. The author believes that this figure is several times higher.

So, 40% of public procurement are hidden from the public. Information on 1,147 purchase contracts worth 514.4 million manats was not posted on the procurement online portal.

The Moderator.az website discusses the fight against corruption and bribery in the country amid recent arrests of heads of executive authorities. Experts believe that many years ago the issue of adopting a law on the declaration of income of officials was considered, but this was not done. Arrests alone cannot achieve the desired effect. In addition, then it is necessary to arrest all the heads of executive authorities who have been working in the same place for more than 10 years, and their crimes are being revealed only now.

The Müsavat.com website discusses the tourism situation. Experts call this area lost for 2020 in the context of the Corona Virus pandemic.

This year, domestic tourism will also be seriously affected. Serious damage has also been done to the service sector, where there is complete unemployment. Until the end of the year, serious revenues from cafes, restaurants and other objects of this type are not expected.