The Committee of Culture of the Milli Majlis conducted remotely its first meeting in the 2022 autumn parliamentary session on 15 September. The chair of the committee Ganira Pashayeva began by asking that the souls of our military fallen in the latest days’ Armenian border provocation should rest in peace and sending her endurance wishes to their families and friends.

Then, the committee chair presented the three items put on the agenda of the meeting.

As she was telling about the work that the committee had done during the 2022 spring and extraordinary sessions, Mrs Pashayeva said that eight meetings had been held to look at 20 topics. Namely, the committee had considered, in all the three readings, the draft amendments to the City-Planning and Construction, and the Civil Codes of the Republic of Azerbaijan as well as to the laws ‘On Business Enterprising’, ‘On Protection of Monuments of History and Culture’, ‘On Physical Culture and Sports’, ‘On Culture’, ‘On Advertising’ and ‘On the National Archive Fund’. There had been several other Bills, scrutinised in the three readings, too. They all had been passed at the Milli Majlis plena.

The committee members had taken part in a few cultural and culture-related events in the country and abroad, besides. Mrs Pashayeva gave a detailed description of the past events as well as of those that are to take place yet. She mentioned the fruitful co-operation between the committee members and the national institutions concerning themselves with cultural matters.

Further, the committee had received numerous letters, applications and complaints from citizens, and had forwarded them to appropriate offices and departments for the problems raised in them to be addressed properly. Also, the committee members had held periodical surgeries and taken steps to resolve the constituents’ concerns.

Mrs Pashayeva proceeded to table the draft working plan of the committee for the 2022 autumn session, saying that the Bills coming up to the Parliament by way of legislative initiatives would be considered during the session. In addition, it is planned to hold public hearings about the Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation Bill and several others.

The third item on the agenda was a Bill on approval of the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the ICESCO (the Islamic World Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) about the placement of the latter’s regional office. According to Mrs Pashayeva, the Bill had been submitted to the Milli Majlis by the President whilst the agreement, inked in Baku on 20 May 2022, was going to serve the interests of Azerbaijan. The agreement defines the conditions and rules of stationing the ICESCO Regional Office in Azerbaijan; it also envisages the ICESCO Baku Office’s immunity and privileges and, besides, contains stipulations as to the status, rights and obligations of the station’s officials.

The deputy chairman of the committee Fazil Mustafa, the committee member Ulviya Hamzayeva and the deputy head of the Social Legislation Department of the Milli Majlis Staff Adil Valiyev commented on the border provocation and the agenda items alike then.

The work done by the Committee of Culture in the 2022 spring and extraordinary sessions was found to have been expedient and the 2022 autumn-session work plan was approved. Also, the speakers recommended that the Bill to approve the agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the ICESCO about the location of the latter’s Regional Office should be tabled at a plenum of the Milli Majlis.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis