RUSSIA 10 TIMES BEHIND AZERBAIJAN IN GROWTH

Kommersant, Russia
March 7 2006

Of CIS member states, Azerbaijan posted the highest rates of industrial
growth in January 2006, the CIS Inter-State Statistics Committee said
in the report promulgated Monday, March 6, 2006.

In Azerbaijan, the industrial output climbed 40.2 percent on year
in January 2006, the CIS Statistics Committee reported. Belarus
had 12.6-percent growth, Tadjikistan posted 10.3 percent. Russia’s
industry manifested just the 4.4-percent advance in the first month
of the year and Kazakhstan showed acceleration of 0.5-percent.

Kyrgyzstan posted the 8.3-percent decline vs. January 2005. The
indicator lost 2.9 percent on year in Ukraine, 1.3 percent in Armenia
and 1.0 percent in Moldova. No information was provided about the
industry’s performance in Georgia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.