Press Review 04/27/2016

International Baku Forum, Russia's influence on the situation in Azerbaijan, the rise in prices in the consumer market, and capital flight from the country are the themes of today's leading media.

The official newspaper Azerbaijan continues to cover the UN International Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations, held in Baku and its value. The newspaper believes that the Forum will raise inter-religious relations to a new level.

Azadlig publishes an article, which accuses Russia of meddling in the internal affairs of Azerbaijan. We are talking about the requirements of Moscow for the packaging and supply conditions of vegetable products delivered to Russia from Azerbaijan. The newspaper writes that Russia behaves as host in relation to Azerbaijan.

Gaining certain positions in Azerbaijan, Russia works against Turkey and specifies how to behave in the Karabakh issue, and now it wants Azerbaijan to comply with the conditions of the packaging of goods, which it imports.

The newspaper believes that the Azerbaijani authorities tolerate the Russian actions.

Echo reports that in the first quarter of 2016 the consumer prices rose by almost 7%. The expert Eyyub Huseynov claims that this makes Azerbaijan the leader among the CIS countries. It is no secret that the Azerbaijani market depends on imports.

The expert Nemat Agayev believes that another reason for the price increase is the additional margin to the goods. If in Armenia and Georgia margins to imported fruit are 10%, in Azerbaijan they are 50%. Rents are also high in Azerbaijan.

The expert Nazim Mamedov also believes that one of the main causes of price hike is the dependence on imports.

Novoye Vremya publishes an article entitled Sargsyan on the Warpath, which says that Armenia refuses of negotiations on the settlement of the Karabakh issue.

The author recalls that Sargsyan came to power due to the Karabakh adventure. Sargsyan’s career started from hostilities over Karabakh, so we should not wait any concessions from him and others like him, as it is ridiculous, says the author. The entire Armenian elite claim that Karabakh cannot be a part of Azerbaijan in any form or version.

Bizim Yol writes that despite the efforts of official Baku, the outflow of capital abroad continues. For the first three months of this year, Turkey was invested more than 5 million TL and this process does not stop. Entrepreneurs of Azerbaijan occupy the fourth place in this list.

The expert Rashad Hasanov claims that the Turkish business environment is more comprehensible than in Azerbaijan, because bureaucratic arbitrariness reigns here. The main reason for the outflow of capital is the inability of the authorities and the entrepreneurs to agree. This is a very negative fact on the background of the lack of investment in Azerbaijan.