Press Review December 27, 2017

The place of Azerbaijan in Islamic solidarity, the poverty level in the country, and the situation in the economy are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about Azerbaijan's call for Islamic solidarity, while analyzing the country's relations with the Islamic world. The author notes that as a result of Ilham Aliyev's successful foreign policy, relations with the Islamic world have strengthened.

The article reminds about the international conference 2017 - the Year of Islamic Solidarity: Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue held in Baku on December 21, which was attended by up to 150 representatives from 40 countries.

The website Azadliq.info writes that according to international standards, most of the population of Azerbaijan lives in poverty.

The author is sarcastic about the words of the head of the State Committee for IDPs, Ali Hasanov, that by 2020 there will be no poor in the country.

The article also compares poverty criteria in Azerbaijan and European countries.

The Novoye Vremya newspaper published an article titled Raising Excises Is Not Reform.

The author analyzes the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers on raising excises on a number of imported goods. In addition, since January 22, 2018, excise rates on gasoline imports will be restored - they had been lowered due to the suspension of production at the Baku Oil Refinery named after Heydar Aliyev. So, the excise on import of gasoline with an octane number less than 95 will increase from 1 to 200 manats.

In addition, the Cabinet of Ministers approved new excise rates on imported goods. At the same time, the excise on tobacco and tobacco products imported into Azerbaijan has been increased more than 2 times. -0----