In order to protect itself against negative effects of such a decrease, the government of Azerbaijan created a special fund that has accumulated up to $82 million over an 18-month period. The Stabilization Fund, which was created by the Ministry of Finance last year, has accumulated extra public revenues from the margin of current tax proceeds from the State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and those that were indicated in the budget. These revenues are accumulated in special accounts of the State Treasury in the International Bank of Azerbaijan and the United Universal Bank.

The Ministry of Finance accumulated 276.3 billion manat ($56.3 million) for January-June this year, said Minister of Finance Avaz Alakparov. This is twice as much as was amassed during the whole of last year, when the ministry garnered 126 billion manat ($25.7 million).

• VISIT OF THE IRANIAN PRESIDENT
• VISIT OF THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF DENMARK
• VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT TO GERMANY
• VISIT OF THE PRESIDENT TO GREECE

Singer is well versed on the region of Central and Eastern Europe/Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS). Prior to coming to Azerbaijan she was serving as the regional emergency advisor for UNICEF regional office for CEE/CIS and the Baltics based in Geneva, Switzerland. Her job has allowed her to visit every single country in the region where she provided technical support for UNICEF country offices to build up staff capacities in vulnerability assessment and analysis, emergency preparedness and response, early warning and preventive methods. In this capacity she assisted in the coordination of UNICEF response to the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq through setting up and establishing UNICEF emergency operations in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Turkey offices respectively.

UNFPA, through its joint projects with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor and Social Security of Azerbaijan, State Statistical Committee, Ministry of Education and other projects of cooperation, has provided substantial assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan in expanding access to and improving quality of reproductive health services in the country, strengthening institutional and technical capacity of the national agencies in the collection and analysis of population and development data, and mainstreaming population and gender concerns into developing planning.

As a result, ANAMA purchased the remote-controlled "BOZENA-4" Mechanical De-mining Machine (MDM) which is similar to the MDMs used in Croatia and cost over 300,000 EUR including training. It is produced by the Way Industry company of Slovakia and was purchased for ANAMA, with funding provided by the European Commission (EC), Italy and UNDP.

For the period of January through June, the total volume of cargo transportation through Azerbaijan along the Eurasian route was 19.4 million tons. Rail transport carried 48.3 percent of the freight, motor transport 29.4 percent and water methods 22.3 percent.

Transit traffic was 38.7 percent of the total 7.5 million ton amount, according to the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan. TRACECA was initiated by Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Moldova, Turkey, and Romania. Ten years ago, the countries signed the Basic Multilateral Agreement with the purpose of restoring the ancient Silk Road route, which would be shorter and have lower tariffs and favorable infrastructure for cargo transport. TRACECA members continue to seek new routes for transportation within this corridor and make the route more attractive to freight companies.