Month: May 2025

Industrial steel over crude oil: New model for US-Azerbaijan relations  AzerNews

In a time when energy diplomacy often conjures images of oil tankers and pipelines, Azerbaijan is offering a new chapter—one written not in crude oil but in steel and silicon. The South Caucasus nation, historically seen through the prism of its oil reserves, is quietly engineering a shift that could redefine its economic identity and strengthen transatlantic ties: a surge in non-oil exports, particularly to the United States.

UK remains top foreign investor in Azerbaijan, as bilateral economic ties deepen  AzerNews

The United Kingdom continues to be Azerbaijan’s largest foreign investor, with total investments exceeding $37 billion, according to Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov during the 7th meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation held in London, Azernews reports.

The International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy (ISFED) has named Levan Natroshvili as its new executive director, following the end of Nino Dolidze’s term.

Natroshvili had served as ISFED’s deputy executive director since November 2022. He has nearly 17 years of experience across civil society, civil service, and academia, with a focus on elections and governance since 2012. He is a member of the OSCE/ODIHR’s international expert group and a certified election observer. Since 2012, Natroshvili has co-led local election observation missions in all general elections held in Georgia. He is also the author, co-author, or lead researcher of dozens of studies and reports.

Also, over the years, he has consulted for the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), and the Council of Europe (CoE).

ISFED, a prominent local watchdog, has played a key role in promoting electoral transparency in Georgia. In recent years, however, the organization has come under repeated criticism from the ruling Georgian Dream party. In the run-up as well as after the contested October 26 parliamentary elections, the Georgian Dream has been attacking the organization that it operates on behalf of foreign actors with ill intentions toward Georgia. As recent as March 6, Georgian Dream Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze reiterated these allegations while speaking to the press during his visit to Uzbekistan. The party has long alleged that ISFED and its donor, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), manipulated observation data to benefit the opposition and fuel political unrest. He also alleged that in 2024, ISFED withheld unaltered Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT) data and called on prosecutors to investigate the 2020 results as well, claiming “many interesting details” could be uncovered.

ISFED has long argued that the repeated claims by GD are vastly inaccurate. Regarding the PVT results from the 2024 elections, in particular, ISFED clarified that they matched those of the Central Election Commission (CEC) due to the nature of observed falsification, which occurred during the voting process, rather than during the tabulation. PVT is designed to identify discrepancies in the tabulation process. ISFED stated that under the circumstances, PVT results, just as those by CEC can’t be used “as a measure of the validity of the electoral process.”

ISFED’s credibility was first challenged during the 2020 parliamentary elections, when the organization acknowledged inaccuracies in its PVT results. Georgian Dream officials claimed the flawed data was part of an opposition effort to discredit the election process. The error was attributed to outdated software that followed the Serbian election model and counted invalid ballots, diverging from Georgia’s tabulation formula. Although ISFED admitted the mistake in November 2020, the delay in publicly addressing it until a full audit was completed led to the resignation of then-Executive Director Elene Nizharadze.

• 06/03/2025 – Irakli Kobakhidze: ISFED Works on Behalf of Forces that Don’t Have Good Intentions Toward Georgia
• 10/01/2025 – ISFED to File Lawsuit Over Mass Dismissals of Civil Servants, Citing Political Persecution
• 08/11/2024 – ISFED Raises Concerns Over Gender-Based Voter Disparities in CEC’s Election Data
• 22/02/2021 – New ISFED Director Elected

A NATO training course titled “Planning and Conducting Air Operations” is being conducted in Azerbaijan for Air Force personnel as part of the “Individual Partnership Cooperation Program 2025” between the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense and NATO, Azernews reports.

Honored Artists Ilkin Ahmadov and Beyimkhanim Valiyeva have thrilled the audience at International Mugham Center, Azernews reports.

In March 2025, Turkiye’s foreign trade turnover reached $54.025 billion, according to data released by the Turkish Ministry of Trade.