The Milli Majlis held a special sitting on 7 August. The parliament Chair Sahiba Gafarova told the gathering on having opened the sitting that the agenda consisted of 6 items tabled for the third reading.

The MPs approved the agenda.

Then, Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Entrepreneurship Tahir Mirkishili presented for the third reading the document ‘On Amendments to the Law on the 2020 State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic’. He said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) infection had intensified negative trends in global economy and resulted in abrupt fluctuations in the world energy and share markets. The economic conditions have changed dramatically around the world as well as in our country. The pandemic has impacted the growth in several economic sectors.

Tahir Mirkishili went further to say that, given what had been told, it was now necessary to amend the 2020 State Budget whilst new spending needs had arisen in it. The 2020 State Budget revenues and expenditures shall equal AZN 24 bn 24 mn and AZN 27 bn 492 mn 200,000, respectively. The former shall consist of centralised and local revenues at AZN 23 mn 359 mn 4675,000 and AZN 764 mn 535 thousand, respectively. The latter shall include AZN 26 bn 677 mn 330,000 in centralised expenditures and AZN 814 mn 870,000 in local expenditures.

MP Soltan Mammadov took the floor to speak of the impact COVID-19 had had on people’s lives and on the current work done to protect the public health.

The document was put on vote and passed in the third reading.

Next, Tahir Mirkishili told of the draft amendments (in the third reading) to the Law ‘On the 2020 Budget of the Designated Executive Authority Implementing the Social Maintenance and Protection’. It was remarked that, subject to the tabled document, the revenues and expenditures of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, and of the State Social Protection Fund were motioned as equalling AZN 4 bn 785 mn. Although there is a AZN 41-mn cut there, together with the AZN 191-mn reserve accumulated in the account of the Fund since the beginning of the year the aggregate allocation in continued financial support for the social protection and maintenance is expected to amount to AZN 238 mn.

The document was put on vote and passed in the third reading.

The draft amendments to the Law ‘On the 2020 Budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund’ were tabled for the third reading then. The committee chairman Tahir Mirkishili mentioned an increase in the revenues and expenditures of the Fund – it was motioned that they be approved as equalling AZN 151.1 mn this year, which would represent an increase by AZN 23 mn from the current-year forecast made and passed originally. The increase in the budget of the Unemployment Insurance Fund would generate added possibilities to increase dramatically the employment insurance coverage (twice or by AZN 5 mn) as well as the costs associated with arranging professional training and extended education (AZN 2 mn more than planned previously) and organising self-employment starting-up activities (AZN 15 mn above the plan). It was then mentioned that the number of employment contracts and the payroll bill both on the rise thanks to the reforms implemented currently were going to make it possible to keep the revenues of the Unemployment Insurance Fund unchanged to the backdrop of the pandemic.

The document was passed in the third reading.

Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev introduced the next document on the agenda, namely, that which concerned amendments to the Employment Law and was now introduced for the third reading. Telling of the significance of the document at hand, Mr Guliyev added that the MPs’ comments and suggestions made at the previous readings had been taken into consideration duly and that they had mainly been technical and editorial in nature.

MP Razi Nurullayev remarked upon the Bill.

The Bill was put on vote and passed in the third reading then.

After that, the MPs were advised of the draft amendments (in the third reading) to the Unemployment Insurance Law. Committee Chairman Musa Guliyev said that, pursuant to the amendments, it was proposed to reduce from 3 years to 1 year the qualifying period of the people whose employment contracts were terminated due to dissolution of a government department or an incorporated entity or because of a staffing or a payroll reduction. According to the draft amendments, an eligible insurance beneficiary shall have at least 3 years of uninterrupted record under a fixed-term employment contract and shall have had his/her employment contract terminated pursuant to the Item b) of Part II of Article 68 of the Labour Code.

As was pointed out, the insurance coverage will be provided 3 months after the beneficiary’s unemployment registration, during which period the beneficiary may not turn down suitable employment opportunities offered to him/her. The insurance coverage is to cover a 3-month period and paid in the minimum assigned amount; no repeated coverage will be allowable.

What else was said was that the Bill had been drawn up with the purpose of strengthening the social protection of the unemployed and expanding the scope of the unemployment insurance system. The suggestions that MPs and experts had made during the precedent committee meetings and Milli Majlis sittings had been taken into consideration duly.

Committee Chairman Siyavush Novruzov and MPs Fazil Mustafayev, Tahir Karimli, Rashad Mahmudov and Vugar Bayramov spoke of the necessity of the amendments and asked several questions.

Committee Chairman Musa Guliyev clarified the points brought up by the MPs.

The Bill was passed in the third reading.

First Deputy Speaker of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli tabled the draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences in the third reading. Saying that extensive information about the document had been supplied at earlier meetings, First Deputy Speaker repeated that the previously-deleted wording ‘a local self-government authority’ had been reinstated in the Code at the suggestion of the legislative initiative originator.

The Bill was put on vote and passed in the third reading.

The Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov who was attending the sitting thanked the Chairmanships of the Milli Majlis and the MPs for the substantial and rational deliberations upon the amendments to the 2020 State Budget and Budgetary Parcel.

At the end of the sitting, Chair Sahiba Gafarova declared the special session of the Milli Majlis closed.

The National Anthem was played and with that the special parliamentary session was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department
       The Milli Majlis