Press Review for 6 March 2018

The development of Azerbaijan's light industry, combating corruption, and strangling with carbon monoxide are the leading topics of today's press.

The newspaper Azerbaijan writes about the increase in cotton production in the country, which will become the foundation for the development of light industry. The author reminds that in 2017 207,395 tons of cotton was harvested. It is planned that in 2022 500 thousand tons of cotton will be harvested. In this connection, yarn factories are already operating in the country, and there are already eight mills in the Mingechevir industrial park alone.

The newspaper Echo published an article about "budget corruption". Azerbaijan actively struggles with domestic corruption, and the achievements in this area are very large. Thanks to the activities of ASAN Khidmet, it was practically eradicated. But at the same time, a very high level of budget corruption remains. Practically there is no transparency in the budget expenditures and expenditures of a number of state agencies.

There are a number of government sectors where corruption has always been very high. These are law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, here cardinal reforms are needed. When asked what measures are more important in the fight against corruption, 32.4% of respondents answered that it is necessary to expand the activities of ASAN Khidmet centers, 26.9% - to intensify punitive measures, 19.5% - to expand educational measures, 8.9% - to carry out personnel reforms, 7.4% - to raise salaries of civil servants, and 2.4% - to publicize the financial incomes of officials.

The newspaper Novoye Vremya reports about deaths from carbon monoxide. During this winter, at least 40 deaths of people from domestic gas were recorded. The author analyzes the problem on the background of the recent death from carbon monoxide of an entire family in Sumgait, who lived in a basement. One cannot help saying that the lack of heating systems in the apartments forces many people to use gas for heating. Given that interruptions in the supply of this raw material occur frequently, you come to the conclusion that this circumstance poses a direct threat to the lives of citizens.

The poor quality of the "blue fuel" is also the cause of poisoning. And the Azerigas officials themselves admit the low quality of gas supplied into our homes. --0--