The scheduled plenary sitting of the Parliament of 25 May chaired by Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova began with the adoption of an eight-item agenda.

The MPs Anar Iskandarov, Elman Nasirov, Siyavush Novruzov, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Razi Nurullayev, Igbal Mammadov, Ali Masimli, Rauf Aliyev, Jeyhun Mammadov, Sahib Aliyev, Zahid Oruj and Sattar Mehbaliyev talked about their constituents’ and constituencies’ issues and brought up several related matters as the current issues were discussed. They also voiced relevant proposals.

As regards the propaganda by certain anti-Azerbaijani circles in foreign countries, the MPs called for stronger counter-propaganda and struggle against such encroachments.

Discussion of the agenda followed.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova said that, ‘The first item on the agenda concerns the town of Shusha, which is one of the symbols of the Azerbaijani people’s cultural and spiritual wealth. As you know, the President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mr Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on 7 May declaring the town of Shusha the cultural capital of Azerbaijan. That document is the first step taken towards the goal set by the Head of State, that of making Shusha one of the most beautiful towns of not merely the country and the region but also of the whole world. Our esteemed President has submitted the Bill ‘On the Town of Shusha, the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan’ in order to solidify the institutional basics for this purposeful action. We are to discuss this Bill in the first reading today.’

Chair of the parliamentary Culture Committee Ganira Pashayeva tabled the Bill ‘On the Town of Shusha, the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan’ (in the first reading) at the plenum, saying that 2020 was a year of restored historical justice, of victory, of the Triumph and pride to the people of Azerbaijan and would be inscribed in the national history annals in this quality exactly. The thirty-year-long longing of the nation was ended that year thanks to the exceptional merits of Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev who carries into life the covenants of the Great Leader as well as from the victorious Azerbaijani Army, Mrs Pashayeva remarked.

She then touched to history to recall the Great Leader’s decision made in 1997 to make the historical part of the town of Shusha a historical and architectural preserve. The aggression of Armenia and the period of occupation that followed had dealt a devastating blow to the nation’s heritage in Shusha. So, an inventory of the damage caused to the town and its legacy and natural assets followed shortly after Shusha had been liberated; restoration work was not slow in beginning, either.

The Bill submitted by the President of Azerbaijan to the Milli Majlis by way of legislative initiative is the fruit of the triumph of union between the state and the people, in Ganira Pashayeva’s opinion. The fundamental legal document will serve the cause of repairing and preserving Shusha’s heritage whilst also providing for its sustainable development, she added.

She told the House then that the document in question had passed extensive discussions at the joint meeting of four parliamentary committees together with the invited leaders of the concerned government agencies and public legal entities. They had given their high praise to the draft that envisages the emergence of a Town of Shusha State Preserve within the town boundaries. The Bill is intended to regulate such matters as the main vectors of state policy in the town of Shusha; legal regulation within the Shusha territory and within its preserved zone; restoration, preservation, study, use and popularisation of monuments; environmental protection; building, architectural and city-planning activities in Shusha; transport organisation; administration of residential properties; business, tourism and other operations; conducting international-level events in Shusha; and several other as important matters.

The Parliament started deliberations having heard Mrs Pashayeva. The MPs Mahir Abbaszade, Azay Guliyev, Tural Ganjaliyev, Azer Badamov, Fazil Mustafa, Erkin Gadirli, Nigyar Arpadarai, Musa Guliyev and Siyavush Novruzov offered their remarks and suggestions. The speakers emphasised what the liberation of Shusha meant to the people of Azerbaijan historically, politically and morally. The ancient town’s development history and its role in Azerbaijan’s political and cultural life were highlighted in the heritage context. All the MPs praised the draft law highly as a document of exceptional importance for the annals of parliamentarism in Azerbaijan. They also pointed at the conceptual perfection of its composition. Some proposals were made, too.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli clarified some issues raised by the MPs then.

The document was voted upon following the discussion. Consequently, the Bill ‘On the Town of Shusha, the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan’ passed the first reading.

The draft law on establishing an embassy of the Azerbaijan Republic in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was tabled next. Chairman of the parliamentary Committee for International Relations and Interparliamentary Connexions Samad Seyidov who gave an overview of the document told the plenum participants that the embassy would set higher standards for the friendly ties and co-operation between our countries.

The Bill was voted in subsequently.

The overviews of the following five Bills tabled for the third reading came from Deputy Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Ali Masimli, Chairman of the same Committee Tahir Mirkishili and Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev.

The vote followed and these documents were passed in the third reading:

The draft amendments to the Azerbaijan Republic Law of 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 draft amendments to the State Duty Law;

The draft amendments to the Tax Code;

The draft amendments to the Civil Code and to the Laws ‘On the State Real Estate Register’ and ‘On Mortgage’; and

The draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Veterinary Practice’.

As regards the next 9 Bills presented for the second reading, they were deliberated and voted upon in keeping with the pertaining reading procedures.

According to First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli, the draft amendments (in the second reading) were to define the status of the insurance agents. The House reacted to the drafts positively.

Next, Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili introduced the draft amendments to the State Procurements Law (in the second reading) and said that they encompassed the intended timing concretisation, the continued increase in the process transparency and complete digitalisation of code confirmation requests.

MP Bakhtiyar Sadigov had commented on this agenda item before it was put on vote and approved in the second reading.

As he was telling the House about the next item on the agenda, First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Ali Huseynli pinpointed conformity as the intended purpose of the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences and to the State Procurements Law. He added that they also envisaged the doubling of penalties for violation of the pertaining legislative prescriptions.

The MPs found it necessary to pass the Bill in the second reading in the vote that followed.

Regarding the draft amendments (in the second reading) to the Medical Insurance Law, they were tabled by Chairman of the Health Care Committee Ahliman Amiraslanov. That document, too, was voted through the second reading.

            Arzu Naghiyev of the Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee Arzu Naghiyev put before the House the draft amendments (in the second reading) to the Law ‘On the State Borders of the Azerbaijan Republic’. That one was approved in the second reading.

The agenda items 13 and 14 dealt with the substantively akin matters; the information about them was provided by Arzu Naghiyev of the Labour and Social Policy Committee, saying that they were about the privileges of the persons ranked as Patriotic War Heroes.

After that, the aforementioned amendments to the Labour and Tax codes were put on vote and adopted in the second reading.

The MPs also voted for the second-reading amendments to the Garrison and Guard Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic (adopted under the Law dated 23 September 1994), the Internal Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic (the Law dated 27 September 1994), the Military Service Performance Regulation (the Law No dated 3 October 1997) 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’.

After that came the draft amendments to the Employment Law in the second reading that was covered by Chairman of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev. According to Mr Guliyev, the amendments are intended to make the implementation of self-employment promotion projects more efficient and transparent by means of appropriate legislative adjustments. The vote followed. The MPs approved the document in in the second reading.

The Bill containing amendments to the Land Code and the Code of Administrative Offences 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 second reading) was tabled by Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev. He recalled the positive response of the House to the document during the first reading; no critical remarks had been made then.

The Bill was approved in the second reading.  

            Also, two Bills were tabled for the first reading and were talked over thoroughly at the plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

As the first order of business in that particular part of the sitting, Chairman of the Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Committee Sadig Gurbanov supplied the information about the Bill ‘On Employment of Renewable Energy Sources in Electricity Generation’ in the first reading.

Renewable energy sources have a dramatic role in the modern world, Mr Gurbanov pointed out. The Bill, which is submitted by the Ministry of Energy, is based on the relevant international experience; besides, it incorporates the opinions and suggestions drawn from the international finance institutions, the international companies interested in investing in the use of renewable energy sources in Azerbaijan and non-governmental organisations whilst the Bill was in the making.

Mr Gurbanov told the House that the new law of 5 chapters and 20 articles would ensure achievement of outstanding results in the use of renewable energy sources in the country as much as it would in raising investments and saving the traditional energy resources. The consequences of this would be a greater national export potential, diminished environmental emissions, reduced state expenses and opening of new jobs.

The MPs Musa Guliyev, Eldar Guliyev, Asim Mollazade, Iltizam Yusifov, Razi Nurullayev, Fazil Mustafa and Mashhur Mammadov came up with conclusions and suggestions. Sadig Gurbanov answered their questions. Then, the Bill was voted on and adopted in the first reading.

            And the last order of business was the first-reading amendments to the Civil Service Law as introduced by a member of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Kamal Jafarov who said the purpose there was to streamline the administration within the Civil Service system as well as to optimise the recruitment procedures.

The detailed overview was followed by the deliberations with the MPs Etibar Aliyev, Fatma Yildirim, Jeyhun Mammadov, Aziz Alakbarov, Sahib Aliyev and Tural Ganjaliyev having put forth their respective remarks and proposals. Kamal Jafarov shed light on the aspects of the document that they had taken interest in. Then, the Bill was voted through the first reading, with which the sitting of the Milli Majlis came to a close.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis