The Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising held a meeting on 26 April where the first-reading draft amendments to the Law of the Azerbaijan Republic ‘On the “Alat” Free Economic Zone’ was considered in the first order.

Committee Chairman Tahir Mirkishili opened the meeting by talking about the efficiency of the economic policy being implemented in Azerbaijan, of the significance of free economic zones and of the importance of having clean-cut legal frameworks for attraction of investments to a free economic zone. Mr Mirkishili stressed the numerous changes including Azerbaijan’s victory in the 44-day Patriotic War having granted the region new economic opportunities having occurred since the ‘The “Alat” Free Economic Zone’ Law’s enactment in 2018.  Mr Mirkishili underscored the import of the Bill tabled for discussion in the light of the realistic outlook of having the Zanghezur Transport Corridor be opened eventually.

Chairman of the Board of the “Alat” FEZ Authority Valeh Alasgarov and Deputy Head of the State Tax Services under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy Samira Musayeva spoke next. The invited participants of the meeting both said that the Bill in question was rooted in the start-up experience of the “Alat” FEZ and the relevant law enforcement process. They also shared the information about the proposed amendments. It was mentioned that the Bill had been drawn up to improve the workings of the “Alat” FEZ as well as to streamline the relevant legislation in keeping with the relevant international experience.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli, Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili, his Deputy Ali Masimli and the same Committee’s members Vahid Ahmadov, Ziyad Samadzade and Vugar Bayramov took part in the discussion. The MPs emphasised how much the terminology adjustment, expansion of the FEZ Authority’s power accretion and concretisation of the relevant tax, customs and financial matters proposed in the Bill mattered for effective operation of the FEZ. At the same time, the speakers described as positive the provisions in the Bill concerning attraction of investments, cancelation of the zoning of disputes and adding the International Arbitration Institution to the list of dispute adjudicators.

In the end, the meeting participants recommended that the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the “Alat” Free Economic Zone’ be submitted for deliberations at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis in the first reading.

Then, the Committee looked at the following matters:

Approval of the 2016 amendments to the (modified) Annexes to the Convention No 185 dated 2003 ‘On the Identity Papers of the Seamen’;

The draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Azerbaijan Republic Law No 541-IIIQ dated 1 February 2008 on the adoption of ‘The Seaman’s Identity Paper Provisions’ and of ‘The Specifications, Description and Specimen of the Seaman’s Identity Paper’;  and

The draft amendments (in the first reading) to the State Duty Law.

It was Chairman of the Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Tahir Mirkishili who informed the assembly of the documents put before them. According to Mr Mirkishili, all the three drafts are interlinked. They have been composed with the purpose of aligning the Seaman’s Identity Paper form and contents with the international conventional requirements as based on the 2016 amendments to the Annexes to the Convention No 185 dated 2003 ‘On the Identity Papers of the Seamen’.

The attending MPs suggested the tabling of all the three Bills at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

The members of the Milli Majlis Committee for Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Elnur Allahverdiyev, Mazahir Efendiyev, Imamverdi Ismayilov, Rufat Guliyev, Anar Mammadov, Igbal Mammadov, Mashhur Mammadov and other officials were taking part in the meeting, too.

The Press and Public Relations
Department The Milli Majlis