Press Review 03/05/2016

Ilham Aliyev’s visit to the frontline zone, the state of the banking sector, the prospects for cotton production, and the possibility of entering the Russian peacekeepers in Karabakh are the leading topics of today's press.

The official newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the visit of the frontline by President Aliyev and his spouse. The Head of State said that in such a difficult time he wanted to express his love to those who are at the forefront. He encouraged residents of the frontline areas, saying they should continue to build and live with confidence, because they are on their homeland.

Azadlig presents expert opinions about the prospects of cotton growing, on which the President made a statement when visiting the Agsu region recently. The expert Vahid Maharramov reminds that over the past 10 years the area reserved for cotton has declined from 110,000 hectares to 18,000 ha. Consequently, cotton production fell from 196,000 tons to 35,000 tons. In addition, the interest in this area has fallen, as cotton is bought at a very low cost and its processing and production are expensive due to the low productivity. The costs of farming should be added to that.

According to Maharramov, the average farmer spends 1,200 AZN per hectare of cotton and takes a yield of 2 tons per hectare. So, this area is unprofitable. In this sense, there are no prospects of cotton in Azerbaijan.

Echo has conducted a poll, asking which of the factors is paramount in the people’s life. 50% of the respondents named health as priority, 18% named stable income, 4% named luxurious life, 2% named clean environment, and 1% named education.

Only 4% of the respondents are engaged in sports and 40% of the people do not consume fruits and herbs daily.

In Azerbaijan, every 100,000 people include 2,053 patients with diabetes mellitus.

Novoye Vremya cites the international rating agency Moody’s and investigates the issue of problem loans. In Azerbaijan, their share is 20%. It is noted that the amount of problem loans exceeded 1 billion AZN. The agency says it is impossible to lose control of problem loans.

Yeni Musavat discusses the situation around the Karabakh problem with the leader of the party Milli Istiglal, Etibar Mammadov. He called the current situation at the front a definite advantage. At the same time, he called unrealistic Azerbaijan's accession to the Customs Union. Russia well understands this, Mammadov said. In his words, Russia wants to show itself a "decisive force." Under this pretext, it wants to deploy its peacekeepers in the region. Azerbaijan should never agree to that, Mammadov said.