Category: Azer News

Hungarian Minister of Economy and Energy Istvan Kapitany said that Budapest expects to ensure its gas supplies without Russian gas by October 2027.

In an interview with Telex, Kapitany noted that the government was holding active talks with neighboring countries, including Romania, as well as companies supplying liquefied natural gas (LNG), as Budapest looks for alternatives to pipeline gas from Russia.

Asked whether Hungary would be able to halt Russian pipeline gas imports by October 2027, in line with the European Union’s requirements, Kapitany pointed to existing cross-border infrastructure and alternative supply routes.

“Thanks to the infrastructure of the import routes and the availability of different sources, Hungary’s gas supply will be secured next October,” Kapitany emphasized. The minister also added that if developments proceed as currently expected, Hungary’s gas demand could be met through alternative sources, although he cautioned that the situation remains difficult to predict.

Kapitany is serving as Hungary’s economy and energy minister in Prime Minister Peter Magyar’s government, which was formed in May 2026. Earlier Magyar insisted that the country would seek compensation from Brussels for abandoning Russian energy resources.

The comments come as Hungary examines ways to diversify its energy supplies and reduce dependence on Russian energy.

On September 17, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva attended the inauguration of the Pirgulu Park hotel in Shamakhi.

Fariz Abbaszade, a representative of Moderngroup LLC, briefed the head of state and the First Lady on the hotel’s facilities.

The hotel, constructed in the Pirgulu settlement, is located near the Shamakhi Astrophysical Observatory. Covering an area of 16 hectares, the complex comprises two hotel buildings. One of the buildings has a capacity of 188 beds, while the other offers 172 beds. The facility features 175 rooms of various categories and two cottages, accommodating up to 366 guests simultaneously. The complex also houses restaurants, cafes, and a 160-seat hall for meetings and training sessions. A congress building with a capacity of 600 people, a children’s entertainment center, and an amphitheater have also been built on the grounds.

The sustainable and comprehensive development of Azerbaijan’s tourism sector is one of the priority areas of state policy. Alongside the country’s rich natural resources, ancient historical and cultural heritage, and unique climatic diversity, state-level efforts to develop the tourism industry have made Azerbaijan an attractive destination for tourists from around the world.

The Grape and Wine Festival, to be held in Shamakhi on September 19-20, will feature a varied programme of concerts and entertainment for visitors.

Several more popular performers have been added to the festival’s concert lineup.

On September 19, visitors will be able to enjoy performances by popular singers Roza Zargarli, Kazim Can and Joseph U.O, as well as DJ Kamo.

The following day, September 20, the festival stage will feature Azerbaijan’s Eurovision representative Dilara Kazimova, Teymur Suleymanbayli, People’s Artist Zulfiyya Khanbabayeva and DJ Kamo.

Over the two days, visitors will have an opportunity to learn more about viticulture and winemaking and explore Azerbaijan’s tourism potential, alongside the festival’s entertainment programme. Various competitions and quizzes will also be held on both days.

The festival will take place in the village of Meysari, Shamakhi district, and is organized by the Shamakhi District Executive Authority, Abqora restaurant and the Nasimi Gardens complex.

Now in its fifth edition, the festival aims to promote local grape and wine production, increase the export potential of wine products and raise public awareness of Azerbaijan’s long history of viticulture and winemaking, as well as developments in the sector.

Various wine brands will take part in the festival and present their products at the viticulture and winemaking complex of Shirvan Wines LLC in Meysari village.

Tickets for the festival are available through iTicket.az.

For the convenience of visitors travelling from Baku, a shuttle service will operate between the capital and the festival site. Buses will depart from the Heydar Aliyev Center stop at 11:30 and return visitors to Baku after the festival.

‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ has become the highest-grossing film in the history of the US and Canadian box office.

According to industry data, just 47 days after its release, the film had earned approximately $936.773 million in the United States and Canada. This allowed it to overtake ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens,’ which previously held the record with $936.662 million.

‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ is the 38th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the fourth Spider-Man movie starring British actor Tom Holland. The film continues the story of Peter Parker and has attracted audiences with its combination of action, humor and familiar Marvel characters.

The movie also became the highest-grossing film of 2026 during its first week of release, earning more than $1.1 billion worldwide. By mid-August, it had already entered the top five highest-grossing Marvel productions.

The world premiere took place on July 31. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production budget was approximately $225 million. However, the film’s enormous promotional campaign was even more expensive: Deadline estimated that the studio spent around $309 million on marketing.

The promotional campaign itself attracted considerable attention. Argentine football superstar Lionel Messi appeared in one of the film’s promotional videos, creating additional interest among audiences outside the traditional superhero fan base.

The success of ‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ is particularly notable because superhero films have faced increasing competition from other genres in recent years. Its strong box-office performance demonstrates that major franchise releases can still generate enormous global interest when they combine popular characters with large-scale theatrical releases.

With its impressive ticket sales and a production budget of hundreds of millions of dollars, ‘Spider-Man: A New Day’ has become not only one of the biggest films of 2026 but also another major commercial success for Marvel and Sony.

Singapore-based Changi Airports International (CAI) has expressed interest in operating and investing in Georgia’s planned new international airport in Vaziani, following meetings between the company’s management and Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and Economy Minister Mariam Kvrivishvili.

Kvrivishvili said CAI has formally confirmed its interest in both operating the airport and investing in the country’s largest infrastructure project.

The new airport is planned at the site of the former Vaziani military airfield, around 20-25 kilometers from Tbilisi. According to the government’s plans, the airport will have the capacity to handle up to 20 million passengers a year and is expected to reach full operation by the end of 2031.

The estimated cost of the project is around $1.3 billion.

Changi Airports International, part of Singapore’s Changi Airport Group, specializes in airport investment, management and consulting. The company operates and advises on airport and aviation hub projects in several countries.

It should be noted that the Vaziani airport does not yet exist and remains a planned project. Kobakhidze first announced plans to build a new international airport there on April 8, 2024.

Armenia’s new constitution text is expected to be made public by the end of the year, Armenian Justice Minister Srbuhi Galyan told reporters on Wednesday.

Galyan said work on the draft had slowed following Armenia’s parliamentary elections on June 7 and has now entered a discussion phase among various government departments.

‘If you recall, there were [parliamentary] elections in our country [on June 7], and the work [on Armenia’s new constitution] slowed down a little [because of that]. Now it is in the discussion phase in various departments. The text is complete. The Constitutional Reform Council has not yet approved the text, we will have sessions soon, allowing the council members to get familiarized [with the text of the new constitution],’ Galyan said.

Asked whether there were provisions in the draft that had prompted disagreements, the minister rejected the suggestion.

‘I would not say that there are such points,’ she said.

Galyan was also asked whether the draft constitution could be provided to parliamentary opposition forces.

‘At least the parliamentary opposition forces have the legal opportunity to participate in the Constitutional Reform Council; and if they wish, they can come and participate in the council sessions. We have always wanted to include our opposition colleagues also in the process, but they have never taken advantage of that opportunity and have not participated,’ she said.

The draft must still be considered and approved by the Constitutional Reform Council before the text is formally presented to the public.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s room for maneuvering is running out, opposition ‘Armenia’ bloc MP and Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF Dashnaktsutyun) member Ishkhan Saghatelyan said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

Saghatelyan said Pashinyan had made different commitments during meetings in Washington and Moscow, as well as in talks with the leaders of Trkiye and Azerbaijan, and now faces pressure to clarify his position.

‘I don’t think he will be able to. As a result, the country is facing a difficult choice,’ Saghatelyan said.

The opposition lawmaker also recalled that during the pre-election period, the ‘Armenia’ bloc had warned voters that Pashinyan would handle the country’s economy in the same way it had handled security issues.

‘Armenia is not ready to leave the EAEU [Eurasian Economic Union], it will have serious consequences. If the price of [Russian natural] gas increases, it will be a very heavy blow for Armenia,’ Saghatelyan said.

He referred to a statement by a member of the ruling party suggesting that, if the price of Russian natural gas rises, Armenia could respond by increasing the lease payment for the Russian military base stationed in the country.

‘This is also an adventurism. And then they [the Armenian authorities] will quickly say that they are ready to buy [natural] gas from Azerbaijan,’ Saghatelyan said.

He questioned the prospect of Azerbaijan becoming an alternative source of energy supplies for Armenia, given the long-standing tensions between the two countries.

‘If the current authorities of Armenia view Azerbaijan as an alternative source of energy supplies, that says it all. How can inimical states, a threat to our state, become an alternative source of supplies of goods of strategic importance [to Armenia]?’ Saghatelyan asked.

Azerbaijan remains committed to preserving Christian heritage on its territory as part of the country’s history, Presidential Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev said during a Euronews Forum panel in Dubai on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Arab Media Summit, Hajiyev said the peace process with Armenia remained difficult, while arguing that both sides needed to prepare their societies for peace.

‘Probably Armenian government and Armenian leadership should work to prepare their people for the peace as well,’ Hajiyev said.

‘Now we won the war, but we are also winning in peace which is an uphill struggle,’ he added.

Hajiyev, who heads the Foreign Policy Affairs Department of Azerbaijan’s Presidential Administration, said Azerbaijan did not view the destruction of religious and cultural sites during the years of occupation as grounds for revenge.

‘Throughout the years of occupation in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur, our mosques, our Islamic cultural heritage were a subject of complete destruction by Armenia, even the pigs were put inside of the mosques,’ he said.

‘We are not taking it as a sign of revenge, but it’s our history and our heritage and we cannot forget that,’ Hajiyev added.

He stressed that Azerbaijan’s cultural heritage also encompasses the country’s Christian and Jewish history.

‘Currently, three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, with mosques, churches, and synagogues, are side by side’ in Azerbaijan, Hajiyev said.

‘Azerbaijan is dedicated to preserving the Christian heritage on the sovereign territory of Azerbaijan, regardless of their belonging, and that is a full stop because it’s our cultural heritage,’ he added.

Hajiyev also highlighted Azerbaijan’s historical links to different religious traditions, saying he was ‘more than proud that my country is one of the first places of Zoroastrianism.’

‘It’s also one of the first places of Christianity since the fourth century: Christianity was adopted by the (Caucasian) Kingdom of Albania as an official religion,’ he said, adding that Azerbaijan was ‘also one of the first countries that adopted Islam.’

Caucasian Albania was an ancient kingdom located in parts of present-day Azerbaijan and southern Dagestan and is unrelated to the modern Balkan state of Albania.

Armenian church authorities have disputed Azerbaijan’s record regarding religious sites, accusing Baku of demolishing churches in Karabakh. Azerbaijan rejects those allegations.

Hajiyev criticizes European Parliament over South Caucasus policy

Hajiyev also criticized the European Parliament and some Western media outlets over their approach to the South Caucasus, arguing that Azerbaijan continues to face what he described as disinformation despite efforts to establish peace with Armenia.

‘One such institution is the European Parliament which is not part of the solution, it’s part of the problem,’ Hajiyev said.

‘The European Parliament is adopting resolutions and decisions, humiliating and also undermining the agenda of peace of our region,’ he added.

‘We are in the process of building regional peace, but the European Parliament is pursuing some completely different agenda.’

Hajiyev said the European Union’s policy toward the South Caucasus should take a broader regional approach.

‘The EU’s policy towards the South Caucasus shouldn’t be only a one-centric approach, it should embrace the entire region with balanced cooperation with the regional countries,’ he said.

He added that EU policy should focus on ‘building the concept of the new partnership … and not to build into dividing lines.’

Hajiyev also pointed to Azerbaijan’s role in European energy security, saying the country supplies natural gas to 16 EU member states as well as other European countries.

He said the Middle Corridor connectivity project could further strengthen ties between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan received a delegation headed by Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Cirielli.

The interlocutors discussed a number of issues concerning bilateral relations.

In particular, special attention was paid to the issue of intensifying economic cooperation in the context of diversifying foreign economic ties and export markets.

The parties also touched upon Armenia-EU relations and other issues of regional significance. All this is taking place against the backdrop of Yerevan’s efforts to join the EU.

It should be noted that Italy allocated pound 2 million in assistance to people in Armenia who voluntarily left Karabakh after Azerbaijan liberated its own territories.

A regional office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) will also be opened in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan produced 224 buses in January-August this year.

The State Statistics Committee noted that this figure represents a 44.5% increase compared with the same period of 2025. As a result, 26 units of finished bus products remained in stock as of September 1 this year.

During the first eight months of the year, Azerbaijan produced machinery and equipment, as well as automobiles, trailers and semi-trailers worth 268.3 million manats.

According to the data, machinery and equipment production decreased by 73.6% compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, while production of automobiles, trailers and semi-trailers increased by 89.3%.

Meanwhile, 1,992 passenger cars were produced in Azerbaijan in January-August, down by 380 units, or 16.5%, compared with the first eight months of last year. As of September 1, 130 finished passenger cars remained in stock.

During the reporting period, Azerbaijan produced 337 tractors, which is 4.5% lower than in the first eight months of 2025. As of September 1, 6 finished tractors remained in stock.

In addition, 597 trucks were produced in the country in January-August, representing a 2.7-fold increase compared with the same period a year earlier. As of September 1, 51 finished trucks remained in stock.