Press-release on the conference held by the Union of Producers and Merchants in Ganca on June 14

A member of the Coalition to Improve Transparency in Extractive Industries (ITEI), the Union of Producers and Merchants (UPM), held a conference on �Improving the awareness of the Azerbaijani rural community of extractive industry activities� in Ganca on June 14. The conference was part of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative in Azerbaijan. The conference was attended by around 70 representatives, including those from Ganca and neighboring regions, NGOs, the media, local municipal and executive bodies, businessmen and others.

Presiding over the conference, the chairman of the Union of Producers and Merchants, which is a member of the ITEI Coalition, Sevgim Rahmanov, provided information about the project and the conference and their objectives. The coordinator of the ITEI Coalition and president of the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation, Sabit Bagirov, made a presentation called �Oil factor and associated revenues, implications and opportunities�, while the director of the Economic Research Center of Xazar University, another member of the ITEI Coalition, Fuad Rasulov, spoke about the �Monitoring of local resources on the territories crossed by the BTC oil export pipeline (including the impact of regions on the economy)�. Also discussed were oil revenues, transparency in their use, development of the non-oil sector, the �resource curse�, the BTC oil pipeline and other topics. Answers were provided to numerous questions from the audience.

This conference was the first of a series of 12 conferences on �Improving the awareness of the Azerbaijani rural community of extractive industry activities� planned by the ITEI Coalition.

The Council of the ITEI Coalition

Last correction date of the file: 24/7/2008 - 15:0:8