The list of information required for foreigners to obtain an electronic visa to Azerbaijan through the "ASAN Viza" system has been amended.

Therefore, foreigners will no longer be required to enter into the system information about their visits to Karabakh and other regions of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which were under the occupation of the Republic of Armenia after 1991.

The Cabinet of Ministers is entrusted to solve the issues arising from this decree.

"Our goal in holding this forum is to attract the attention of both the local and international media communities to the measures that can be taken in this area. The meeting of President Ilham Aliyev with the forum participants on the first day of the event reflects the attention paid to the media sector in the country.

The panel session held within the forum spotlighted both local and international experts on issues related to countering disinformation and the spread of fake news. Their consensus was that an international platform should be established to combat disinformation," he added.

The Second Shusha Global Media Forum was held on July 20–22 and attended by 150 foreign guests from 49 countries, including news agencies from 34 countries, 12 international organizations and media entities, as well as 60 heads and representatives of Azerbaijani media.

During the meeting, the sides emphasized that Azerbaijan and Italy enjoy successful partnership relations in various fields of the economy, including trade, energy, transport and other ones.

The parties exchanged views on priorities for economic cooperation, stressing the importance of the new initiatives.

The meeting with Andrea Di Giuseppe, Chairman of the Committee on International Trade of the Italian Parliament featured discussions around high potential of the trade partnership, the realization of these opportunities, the development of relations between the business entities, as well as increasing mutual investments.

Minister Mikayil Jabbarov also met with Francesco Rocca, President of the Lazio region.

The parties discussed the economic issues of mutual interest with the Lazio region within Azerbaijan-Italy partnership, and prospects for promoting joint activity in the private sector.

The meeting also featured a presentation on business and investment opportunities of Azerbaijan and the Lazio region.

She noted that the Forum also discussed the topic of "Climate Change and Media":

"We attempted to discuss the role of the media in this area. The media's role will be very important in terms of raising awareness and message delivery."

"As you know, Azerbaijan will host a highly prestigious event in November. This is a great platform for equality and inclusivity. As a High-Level Champion, my main role is to connect the work of states with non-state organizations (business sector, NGOs, city representatives, charity organizations, etc.). COP29 is not an event but a process. Currently, we are moving according to the schedule in both organizational and negotiation aspects. We are confident that, as always, Azerbaijan will successfully host this major event," she added.

during the presentation on “Solidarity for a Green World - COP29” at the II Global Media Forum held in Shusha, APA's correspondent dispatched to Shusha reports.

He emphasized that one of the key issues to be addressed at COP29 is financing in order to achieve the goals:

"One of the proposals is to establish a new model for financing. We believe that COP29 will be a great opportunity. Azerbaijan aims to create a transparent environment where various parties can engage in extensive discussions. In total, 14 issues have been included in the agenda of COP29. Azerbaijan considers it important to address the creation of green corridors, storage facilities, and water scarcity issues. Climate change affects all countries. We must remain committed to our national obligations because each of these obligations is very important."

He stated that serious steps should be taken to provide government guarantees to small and medium-sized enterprises operating in the renewable energy sector, as well as entrepreneurs involved in green energy production:

"I believe that attention should also be increased towards food and agriculture sectors, as well as the protection of soil layers and ensuring the food needs of communities. Within the framework of COP29, steps will be taken to raise 1 billion USD in investment for the Climate Finance Fund. We are currently working towards this. The created Fund will aim to prioritize financing the cectors, as well as achieving zero waste levels. Profits from the implemented projects will be redirected into the Fund as investments. The headquarters of the created Fund will be located in Baku."

Submission of documents for the competition will start from July 16, 2024. The deadline for applications is August 16, 2024. After that, documents collected from NGOs will be examined and projects will be analyzed, in order to identify the winners.

The projects presented should be relevant to the topic of global climate change.

Upper limit of grant amount on Medium Grant Competition (MGC) will be 30000 AZN (implementation period up to 6 months), upper limit of grant amount for Large Grant Competition (LGC) will be 50000 AZN (implementation period up to 6 months.

NGOs can only participate in the grant competition in the form of a coalition. The procedures are carried out in accordance with the decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated September 14, 2023, No. 327 and 328 (in relation to local NGOs).

The coalition must comply with the format “minimum 1 local NGO (having state registration in the Republic of Azerbaijan) + 1 foreign NGO”; Only a local NGO should be the main implementing party in the coalition; The protocol on the establishment of the coalition, approved by all member-local and foreign NGOs, must be submitted (in Azerbaijani and English). Detailed information about the foreign organizations represented in the coalition should be provided (which country represents, field of activity, experience, website, etc. and other sources of information); NGOs that have won large, medium and small grant competitions of the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2024 and whose commitment is not completed by August 16, 2024, cannot be the main implementing party in the coalitions. 1 NGO can only be represented in 1 coalition. The coalition can submit projects for both competitions (MGC and LGC), in which case only 1 of the projects that meet the competition requirements will be funded.

Which criteria will be preferred in the competition:

- That the NGO which is the main implementing party itself or the organization participating as a foreign partner in the coalition has had an observer status at the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), as well as have international experience related to previous COPs or climate change issues;

- That an organization with UNFCCC observer status participating as a foreign partner represents developing countries (DCs), especially least developed countries, small island developing states;

- Having a letter of support related to the submitted project from a foreign partner represented in the coalition.

Projects whose content contradicts with the Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan, laws and other normative legal acts of the Republic of Azerbaijan, as well as decisions of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 327 and 328 dated September 14, 2023; projects with the same content that had been financed from the state budget of the Republic of Azerbaijan as a result of previously held competitions; projects of NGOs that have been deprived of the right to participate in the competition by the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan for violating their obligations under the Grant Agreement, as well as those that have debts to the Agency are not admitted to the competition.

The main implementing NGO submits the project electronically through a special section on the website of the Agency for State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations of the Republic of Azerbaijan (https://ngoagency.gov.az/az) (the corresponding section will be active on the website of the Agency on July 16-August 16, 2024). Project proposal documents submitted in person, by mail or by e-mail are not accepted.