People's Front of Azerbaijan Party vows to tackle "all problems" if elected

Azerbaijani parliamentary candidate and first deputy chairman of the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party [PFAP], Ali Kerimov, made the party's fourth TV campaign broadcast on Azerbaijani state TV at 1700 gmt on 23rd October. The broadcast began with a brief report about Ali Kerimov's meetings with voters in districts and attempts by "reactionaries" to disrupt the meetings.

At the beginning of his speech Kerimov touched on the incidents during his meetings with voters. He said that despite all the unpleasant events inside the opposition, disagreements should be overcome. "I think that we should find the strength to reach accord, be ready and able to overcome problems between us in order to confront the current authorities which have drowned the country in problems."

Kerimov said that while visiting the country's rural districts he realized that the agricultural sector was in deep crisis. He said that the PFAP had a special programme for leading agriculture out of the crisis. The main points of the programme are: give soft credits to farmers; form a local sales market for farmers and protect it from imported goods; abolish monopolies in the processing industry; maintain the irrigation system; provide farmers with cheap agricultural equipment; set up agricultural and land banks to provide state support to farmers, etc.

Kerimov spoke about the party's business development programme. He said that economic reforms should be based on the liberalization of the economy. "To encourage production in the country, businessmen who open manufacturing enterprises should be exempted from taxes for at least five years. Moreover, taxes should be reduced." Conditions should be created for businessmen to become interested in opening new jobs. The outflow of capital from the country should be stopped and foreign capital should be attracted to Azerbaijan.

"If you vote for the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party, if you bring the People's Front of Azerbaijan Party to power, we have the strength and ability to tackle all your problems," Kerimov concluded.

Source: Azerbaijani TV, Channel One, Baku, in Azeri 1700 gmt 23 Oct 00

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Posted October 25, 2000 © Eurasianet
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