AZERBAIJANI OIL EXHIBITION OPENS.

The third and largest yet Caspian Oil and Gas exhibition opened yesterday in Baku with 190 firms participating, including all of the major international oil companies and government officials from 20 countries. Inaugurating the exhibition, president Heydar Aliyev said that Azerbaijan’s oil industry, the world’s largest in pre-Soviet times is undergoing a rebirth. He attributed Western assistance to the fact that Azerbaijan gained its independence. Aliyev assured the audience that "we shall not turn back from the march to the free market." (Interfax, June 4. See also Perspective section below).

Russia on NATO Enlargement: Differing Views.