Category: General

The last preparatory meeting for the World Radiocommunication Conference has started in Geneva, Switzerland, the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport told AZERTAC. Representatives of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, specialists from the State Administration of Radio Frequencies and Azercosmos are representing Azerbaijan at the event. The meeting will discuss issues on the agenda of the conference, including the development of relevant recommendations and draft resolution documents to ensure effective and unhindered use of radio frequencies for the implementation of next generation terrestrial and satellite technologies and air navigation services in the coming years. The event, which will last two weeks, will also include necessary coordination meetings with various regional organizations and relevant communications administrations in order to ensure Azerbaijan’s national interests in this area.

Source: Azerbaijan State News Agency

The peaceful protest of Azerbaijani ecologists and young volunteers on the Lachin-Khankandi road passing through Shusha over the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits, especially the Gizilbulag gold and Damirli copper-molybdenum deposits located in the Azerbaijani territories, where the Russian peacekeeping contingent is temporarily deployed, has been going on for the 107th straight day, APA reports from the scene.

They performed the national anthem of Azerbaijan early in the morning.

Note that the protest has been held on the Khankandi-Lachin road passing through Shusha against the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits in Karabakh since December 12.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

A criminal investigation has been launched after the armed attack on MP Fazil Mustafa, Ehsan Zahidov, head of the press service of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Internal Affairs told APA.

He stated that the appropriate investigative and operational search procedures are being carried out by officers from the police department and the prosecutor’s office.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency

Energy landscape in Europe has changed forever, Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, State Secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, Norway, said, addressing the 9th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue, Trend reports.

“The energy crisis is important for Norway because our neighboring countries are our most important trade partners. For example, so it’s not a good thing for Norway that they close down industry in Europe, for example, and it is not a good thing for Norwegian energy investments the kind of volatility and uncertainty that we see in energy markets today. And then finally, on the perspective of the crisis, it is also a crisis that hits us in Norway as well due to the link between the power market and the gas market. So, we have seen record high electricity prices in Norway. That is challenging for Norwegians households, Norwegian industry and businesses. It is very much a crisis that we are concerned with in Norway, and we want to help work together with our neighboring countries to bring prices back to normal levels as soon as possible,” he said.

Eriksen believes that with the energy crisis, the energy landscape in Europe has changed forever and there is no going back to pre-war levels.

“So, I think even though the energy transition is happening much faster than we perceived just a year and a half ago, and that is a very good thing. Even on the Norwegian side, even though we have 100% renewable power generation in our mix today, hydro and windpower, we need a lot of extra renewable electricity to be able to get rid of our fossil fuel dependency and transform the transportation sector where Norway really has taken a lead going forward. So, the main challenge there is also for us to be able to get sufficient amounts of renewable electricity on the grid fast enough.

We see that the demand is ramping up really quickly. We will have a lot of extra demand the next couple of years, demand could increase by almost 50 percent only until 2030, and then we have to do a lot in our energy system, Europe has to do a lot in their energy systems, to be able to cope with that demand and the pace in the energy transition that we see right now,” he added.

Source: Trend News Agency

Russian IrAero airline has launched flights on the new Novosibirsk-Baku-Novosibirsk route, Trend reports via the company.

Flights from Novosibirsk to Baku will be carried out twice a week, on Fridays and Sundays, and from Baku to Novosibirsk, on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

“The first Novosibirsk-Baku flight is scheduled for March 31. The aircraft will depart from Novosibirsk at 14:00 (GMT+7) with arrive in Baku at 15:40 (GMT+4). The flight time will be four hours and 40 minutes. The return flight will be carried out at 23:10 (GMT+4) with arrival in Novosibirsk at 06:00 (GMT+7), and the flight time will be three hours and 50 minutes,” the company said.

In addition, the Russian Federal Agency for Air Transport (Rosaviatsiya) allowed IrAero to operate flights from Omsk to Baku. The airline plans to fly to the capital of Azerbaijan three times a week.

Currently, there are no direct flights from Omsk Airport to Baku.

According to the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, from 06:00 (GMT+4) on March 28, 2023, when entering Azerbaijan, foreign citizens and citizens of other countries permanently residing in these countries, as well as stateless persons, do not need to provide a COVID-19 passport.

Source: Trend News Agency

Pakistan has decided not to attend the US-led democracy summit beginning today (Tuesday) in Washington, APA reports citing MM News.

According to Foreign Office spokesperson, Pakistan has not been part of the Summit process that commenced in 2021 and required countries to make certain national commitments. The Summit process is now at an advanced stage and therefore, Pakistan would engage bilaterally with the United States and co-hosts of the Summit to promote and strengthen democratic principles and values and work towards advancing human rights and the fight against corruption.

It may be mentioned here that like the first democracy summit in 2021, both India and Pakistan have been invited to the summit. India attended the last meeting and may do so this year as well. Pakistan had opted out of the first summit, reportedly on back of the Biden administration’s refusal to reach out to the then prime minister Imran Khan.

The virtual summit has been co-sponsored by the US Department of State and USAID on the theme of ‘Global Declaration of Mayors for Democracy’.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency