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Eurasia
November 2, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
are ready to take advantage of this opportunity," Pashinian wrote.
Armenia will have to continue treading carefully when it comes to strengthening relations with the US, the EU and Nato. Former activist and op- position MP Pashinian – favourite to win a snap
Star performers: Azerbaijan and Turkey shoot up the Doing Business rankings
bne IntelliNews
Azerbaijan has been in the business headlines for all the wrong reasons in the past couple of years, while the focus on Turkey is stuck on its seem- ingly inevitable slide into a recession, with compa- nies up to their necks in debt because of the lira currency crisis — but the near neighbours have emerged as star performers in the latest World Bank Doing Business ranking.
Baku is celebrating an eyepopping leap of 32 places to 25th among the 190 ranked economies in Doing Business 2019 after carrying out a re- cord eight business reforms, while Ankara must be chuffed with a gain of 17 places to 43rd. Turkey was praised by the survey assessors for achiev- ing “top improver” status for the first time, after pushing through a record seven reforms.
Back in early October, Azerbaijan was a bit red in the face as the UK's first ever Unexplained Wealth Order (UWO) was issued in an anti-corruption
general election likely to be scheduled for coming weeks – is waging a battle against cronyism, cor- ruption, business monopolies and politicians of the dislodged establishment whom he claims are guilty of historical human rights abuses. It is not yet clear whether Russia is content enough with the direction he is leading the country in.
Business buddies: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev two weeks ago inaugurated Turkey’s first new refinery since 1975. It was built by Azerbaijan’s national oil company SOCAR.
process brought against Zamira Hajiyeva, wife
of Jahangir Hajiyev, a former chairman of state- owned International Bank of Azerbaijan. The
past couple of years have also seen the South Caucasus country of 10mn beset by a slew of money laundering allegations including those made as part of the “Laundromat” affair which even led to a rare demonstration on the streets of the capital. The Azerbaijani regime has also been busy fending off persistent allegations that it has paid bribes to burnish Azerbaijan’s image. In May this year, an ex-president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)
was banned from holding senior posts in the organisation for 10 years following an inquiry into suspected vote rigging in favour of the country.
Now, however, Azerbaijani officials dealing with unsettled foreign investors can instead point to how Doing Business 2019 — the data collection for which ended in May this year — determined