An ordinary plenary sitting of the spring parliamentary session chaired by Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova took place on 21 May.

Before the sitting proper began, the Chair of the Milli Majlis told the House of the visit of the delegation led by her to the Italian Republic on 17-19 May. That visit had seen conversations with Chair of the Italian Senate Ms Maria Elisabetta Alberti-Kasellati, Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy Roberto Fico, Italy’s Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Luigi Di Mario, State Secretary of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation and Co-Chairman of the joint Interstate Commission for Economic Co-operation between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Italian Republic Manlio Di Stefano and members of the Italy-Azerbaijan Working Group as well as the Italy-Azerbaijan Friendship Association.

It had been said at those conversations that the mutual relations of Azerbaijan and Italy had the spirit of strategic partnership in which the exchanged visits of the heads of the two states bore a notable weight. President Sergio Mattarella of Italy was in Azerbaijan on an official visit in 2018 while the state visit to Italy of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan that took place in 2020 had several essential documents including the joint declaration of strengthening the diverse strategic partnership between the republics of Azerbaijan and Italy signed during it.

Also had been emphasised the special part in the furtherance of the bilateral relations played by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation helmed by First Vice President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mrs Mehriban Aliyeva. The interlocutors had underlined the attention and approval with which the Heydar Aliyev Foundation’s work done in Italy was met. The significance of the TAP project’s accomplishment and this project being regarded as Azerbaijan’s ‘doorway’ to Europe had been underlined as well. Besides, the talkers had agreed on the vast contribution to the progressing relations that came from parliamentary diplomacy.

The Italian side had been informed thoroughly of the 44-day Patriotic War waged under the leadership of President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev at all the meetings. It had been pointed out that the Garabagh Conflict had become history and that a new period of rebuilding and restoration had begun in the lands delivered from the Armenian occupation.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis also recalled the visits of two delegations of Italy’s Senate and Chamber of Deputies to Azerbaijan – their members could see with their own eyes the destructions caused by the Armenian occupiers in the towns of Ganja and Agdam.

According to Sahiba Gafarova, it had been noted at the encounters in Italy that Armenia kept an unhelpful stance in the post-conflict period, too; that Armenia would not let the Azerbaijani side have minefield maps but would try to paint the terrorists apprehended in Garabagh after the end to hostilities as ‘prisoners of war’.

The Italians had been told also that Azerbaijan used its sovereign right to delimit its borders with Armenia whereas Armenia treated the matter without constructivism but made allegations in an attempt to mislead the global community. Our side had emphasised in this connection that Azerbaijan meant to have all the items of the Trilateral Statement of 10 November 2020 be carried into life all the obstacles notwithstanding. Madame Chair remarked that, the Italian side, too, had witnessed their interest in the enforcement of the Statement in entirety.

The visit of the Azerbaijani parliamentary delegation to Italy demonstrated once more that the bilateral relations set high standards as well as that there is an immense potential to strengthen the interaction further, according to Madame Chair.

Next, the Chair of the Milli Majlis expressed her attitude to the resolution on prisoners of war in the aftermath of the most recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan that the European Parliament had passed yesterday. Speaker Gafarova said that the resolution was based on the lies of Armenia and the Armenian Lobby and contained unfounded demands put to Azerbaijan – the demands that rather fail to find an instance in the reality. The occupation regime of Armenia had held its grip of our lands for thirty years but the European Parliament that considers itself a champion of democratic values had kept silent about that somehow. There was silence, too, regarding more than a million refugees and internally displaced people. Whereas today, a jolt from Armenian propaganda would bring about such a document passed with regards to Azerbaijan.

Naturally, the resolution in question bears no weight with us and one could even say that it is nothing more than merely a scrap of paper devoid of whatever legal import; neither does it relay the policy of the European Union concerning Azerbaijan and the whole region. Azerbaijan remains interested in the comprehensive advancement of its relations with the European Union; those relations are progressing on the plane of strategic partnership.

Sahiba Gafarova added that the pains taken by certain partial groups within the European Parliament could never harm the mutually beneficial co-operation between Azerbaijan and the European Union.

That was followed by deliberations on the issues du jour. A parliamentary committee chairman Zahid Oruj and the MPs Hikmat Mammadov, Fazail Agamali, Bahrouz Maharramov, Naghif Hamzayev, Ali Masimli, Vahid Ahmadov, Sahib Aliyev, Fazil Mustafa, Razi Nurullayev and Musa Gasimli commented on the border delimitation, opening the Zanghezur Corridor and the Europarliament’s bias towards Azerbaijan. The matters concerning the electors were brought up as well.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis announced the planned consideration of 23 agenda items of which 7 were draft resolutions of the Milli Majlis. Besides, judges will be appointed to several courts of law upon the motion of the esteemed President whilst two current judges will be dismissed due to change of positions.

After that, a member of the Milli Majlis Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Nizami Safarov told of the judicial and court reforms under way in the country as well about the innovations put in practice as a result of the appropriate legislative moves that the Milli Majlis had made in the areas determined by Mr President to ensure the modern-form operation of the national judicial system. Nizami Safarov pointed at the fact that the institutional transformations included the establishment of separate commercial and administrative courts in all the six regions of the country (since 2020) to facilitate court appeals by business operators and to make certain that business-related disputes should be adjudicated by judges with more in-depth legal knowledge and area-specific experience. Besides, the new Sumgait Court for Grave Offences was established. As regards commissioning the new electronic judicial information system, it is active at 70 per cent of all the courts of law in the country already. That system enables citizens to apply to courts electronically without claimants having to call physically; besides, the same system releases e-information about court proceedings and sessions.

According to Nizami Safarov, appropriate judge appointments have a place of its own within the judicial system in need of constant development. So, the candidate judges presented to the House at this plenum today are all experienced and finely-educated jurists.

The committee chairmen Ziyafet Asgarov and Siyavush Asgarov as well as the MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Razi Nurullayev, Fazail Agamali, Jala Aliyeva, Sabir Rustamkhanli, Aydin Mirzazade, Etibar Aliyev and Jala Ahmadova shared their thoughts about the candidates.

Then were put on vote and approved the motions to appoint the judges of the Supreme Court of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Supreme Court of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic as well as of the courts of appeal of Baku, Sumgait and Shirvan, and to appoint and dismiss the judges of the courts of appeal of Ganja and Sheki.

Next came the deliberations upon the agenda item 8, namely, the Bill on ratifying the agreement between the Government of Azerbaijan and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development about the ICMPD status in Azerbaijan.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli supplied the relevant information, saying that the ICMPD was one of the two international organisations with which Azerbaijan collaborated in the migration field. The Government of Azerbaijan signed the aforementioned agreement in March this year in view of the fruitful interaction, and it is felt that the ratification of the agreement would be opportune given the high level of interaction with the ICMPD achieved to date.

Mr Huseynli went further to put down as inappropriate the Europarliament resolution regarding Azerbaijan and to emphasise that the conflict had been ended by virtue of the statement inked on 10 November 2020.

A parliamentary committee chairman Siyavush Novruzov and the MPs Razi Nurullayev as well as Sabir Rustamkhanli were heard before the agreement in question was put on vote and approved.

Chairman of the Milli Majlis Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili told the House that the draft containing amendments to the Tax Code and to the laws ‘On Licences and Permits’ and ‘On the 2021 State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic’ was on the adjusting side and would ensure conformity with the other laws.

That Bill was voted in subsequently.

Deputy Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Ali Masimli tabled the following two agenda items. Those were the set of amendments 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’ (the second reading) and the draft amendments (in the second reading, too) to the State Duty Law.

Both Bills are drawn up to align seafarers’ IDs with the international convention requirements both in form and content pursuant, Mr Masimli remarked before the Bills were put on vote and approved once by one.

Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said then that the coming two items on the agenda had been composed in the Milli Majlis at the recommendation of the Constitution Court and had been accommodated with all the concerned agencies. Those were the substantively interlinked draft amendments to the Tax and Civil codes of the Azerbaijan Republic and to the laws ‘On the State Real Estate Register’ and ‘On Mortgage’.

After that, a committee chairman Tahir Mirkishili tabled the second reading of two sets of draft amendments. He specified that both explained what documents had to be submitted in case of an abortive auction leading to mortgaged property being transferred to the ownership of a creditor organisation, and what party is to pay the applicable tax.

The two Bills were put on vote and passed once after another.

The draft amendments to the Azerbaijan Republic Law ‘On the Veterinary Practice’ were tabled for the second reading by Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev then. As Mr Rzayev said, the Bill pursued the goals of protecting animal health, safeguarding animals from diseases, supporting the private agrarian sector’s growth and providing for higher quality of veterinary services.

The Bill was voted through the second reading.

Further, First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli informed the House of the draft amendments (the first reading) to the Civil Code and to the Insurance Practice, saying the amendments were intended to define insurance brokers’ status.

That Bill, too, was put on vote and approved following the comments that came from the MPs Razi Nurullayev and Rashad Mahmudov.

The first part of the Milli Majlis plenum was over there.

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The Milli Majlis plenum was continued after an intermission.

The first-reading amendments to the State Procurement Law being the next agenda item were tabled by a committee chairman Tahir Mirkishili who said that the state procurement volume and how the procurements are made constituted one of the staple economic policy instruments. State procurement accounts for approximately 25 per cent of the spending from the State Budget of Azerbaijan; that amounted to roundabout AZN 6.5 bn in 2020. Some 12,000 state procurements are made in the country every year with this process involving more than 20,000 business operators. The digitalisation of the procurements will make them more transparent, more efficient, faster and more competitive.

The Bill is set to broaden the scope of the e-procurements, afford business enterprisers ample opportunities to tender for commissions, streamline the procedures, impose time limits and determine liabilities, according to Mr Mirkishili.

Considerations about making the state procurements more transparent and efficient as well as about boosting sound competition in them were voiced together with a number of relevant suggestions by a committee chairman Zahid Oruj and the MPs Razi Nurullayev, Aydin Huseynov, Etibar Aliyev, Gudrat Hasanguliyev and Fazil Mustafa.

The Bill was voted through the first reading then.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli came up with the set of draft amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences subject to the amendments to the State Procurement Law. He pointed at the sanctions for violations in statement procurements that are stipulated in the document.

The draft law was put on vote and approved in the first reading.

Going further, the House also looked at the first-reading Bill containing amendments to the Medical Insurance Law. Chairman of the Milli Majlis Health Committee Ahliman Amiraslanov commented on the document talked about its goal being to support persons applying for medical services and giving such people more opportunities to turn to health care institutions.

The House voted the Bill through the first reading.   

A member of the Milli Majlis Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee Arzu Naghiyev presented the first-reading drafts to the Law ‘On the State Border of the Azerbaijan Republic’ next. Mr Naghiyev said that the amendments would lead to exacting regulation of the public relations encompassed by the law whilst also adding several improvements to the latter.

A committee chairman Ziyafet Asgarov and the MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Sahib Aliyev and Musa Gasimli shared their views of the matter and then, the Bill was put on vote and approved in the first reading.

Arzu Naghiyev of the Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee said then that the draft amendments to the Labour and Tax codes of the Azerbaijan Republic were concerned with the benefits and privileges granted to the bearers of the ‘Patriotic War Hero’ nomination.

As for the next agenda item, it consisted in draft amendments to the Garrison and Guard Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic, the Internal Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Military Service Charter, and to the laws ‘On Perpetuating the Memory of Those Fallen for the Motherland’, ‘On Protecting the Historic and Cultural Heritage Objects’, ‘On the Youth Policy’ and ‘On the Rules of Using the National Anthem of the Azerbaijan Republic’. This Bill adds those awarded the Patriotic War Hero title and decorated with the ‘Victory’ and ‘Garabagh’ orders to the ranks of the people with military merit decorations. Besides, the Bill sets the perpetuation and protecting of the memory of the Patriotic War heroes.

A committee chair Ganira Pashayeva and the MPs Azer Badamov and Elman Mammadov commented on this item. Then, the House voted for each presented matter separately and both were passed through the first reading. 

Chairman of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev tabled the draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Employment Law and told the assembled that it was proposed to add two new paragraphs to the law to make implementation of self-employment projects more efficient and transparent as well as to provide legal frameworks for the conduct of inspection and controlling activities and for the financing of training planning services.

The last item on the plenum’s agenda list was the Bill that contained amendments to the Land and Administrative Offences codes of the Azerbaijan Republic as well as to the laws ‘On the Antimonopoly Practice’, ‘On the Use of Energy Resources’, ‘On Mineral Resources’, ‘On Gas Supplies’, ‘On the Energy Sector’, ‘On Licences and Permits’ and ‘On Implementing Construction and Infrastructure Facility-Related Projects based on Special Finance’ (all in the first reading). The relevant presentation was given by Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev who specified that the amendments were of the harmonising nature as well as that they contained several formulation adjustments. For the most part, then, the proposed modifications are intended to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Law ‘On Licences and Permits’ as he added.

The Bill was voted through the first reading after a speech on the topic by MP Elman Nasirov.

And with that, the plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis came to an end.

The Press and Public Relations
Department The Milli Majlis