The week of November 7-11 saw Azerbaijan asking for a guarantee to Europe, the Ministry of Culture not paying competition winners and school’s condition statistics
Azerbaijan asks Europe for gas export guarantee
Against the background of the energy crisis in Europe, Azerbaijan asked for a guarantee in return for turning to Azerbaijan as an alternative source.
The “Financial Times” newspaper writes that in order to double Azerbaijan’s gas exports to the European Union, the bloc will depend on new investments in its pipeline network and European companies concluding long-term contracts.
In July, Brussels and Baku signed an agreement to increase the volume of gas exported from Azerbaijan to the European Union to 20 billion cubic meters per year by 2027.
Ministry of Culture did not pay the film competition winners
At the end of 2021, the Ministry of Culture announced a 300,000 AZN “Support for feature film projects – 2022” competition . In March 2022, the results of the competition announced seven projects as winners.
However, they haven’t received any money yet. Film director Tahir Tahirovich, who was one of the winners of the competition, told Meydan TV that although 45,000 AZN have been allocated to support the filming of the project, the ministry has not yet reimbursed that amount:
“We expected that contracts would be signed in September and work would continue. The Ministry does not make any official statement. We are still waiting.”
Other winning companies also confirmed to Meydan TV that they did not receive their share of the 300,000 AZN promised within the competition.
Deputy Minister: “More than 960 schools in Azerbaijan are in an unusable condition”
Deputy Minister of Science and Education Idris Isayev said during the joint discussion of the public associations and religious institutions, culture, science and education, health, family, women’s and children’s committees of the Milli Majlis that in Azerbaijan, 960 schools were registered as unfit or unrepaired.
“434 schools in Azerbaijan are completely unusable. Currently, about three-billion AZN funds are needed for the repair and reconstruction of these schools”, he added.
In 2023, 4.4 billion AZN will be allocated from the state budget for education, according to the draft law “On the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2023”.
Education expert Nabatali Gulamoglu told Meydan TV that this amount is not enough:
“They squander the money allocated from the budget, spend it in various, non-designated directions. We have calculated that 2,850 AZN are allocated from the state budget to each student per year. If they give that money to every parent, they can hire a tutor and teach their child well.”
