Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova presided over the ordinary plenary sitting of the Parliament held on 27 May and begun with the adoption of a fifteen-item agenda.

The issues du jour were talked over after the agenda had been adopted.

Chair of the parliamentary Culture Committee Ganira Pashayeva then tabled the Bill ‘On the Town of Shusha, the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan’ for the second reading and said that the document had been treated favourably during the first reading with the MPs having endorsed it concept-wise. Several remarks had been made with regards to the draft; those are to be discussed with the legislative initiator before some of them can be incorporated in the directive documents related to administration of the future law. The Bill, Mrs Pashayeva said, had been discussed in the second reading at the joint meeting of four parliamentary committees and had met with their unanimous approval yesterday. Enacting the new law would be contributing to the protection, restoration, progress and popularisation of Shusha which the President declared the cultural capital of Azerbaijan.

The future law 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 committee chairman Tahir Rzayev and the MPs Vahid Ahmadov, Aydin Mirzazade, Jala Aliyeva, Erkin Gadirli, Fazail Agamali, Gudrat Hasanguliyev and Sahib Aliyev spoke as the history of the town of Shusha and its role in the political and cultural life of Azerbaijan were brought to the fore. The speakers made several new suggestions and praised the Bill.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the parliamentary Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli clarified a number of issues raised by the MPs. The committee chairs Ganira Pashayeva and Siyavush Novruzov stated their respective views of several matters that the MPs had brought up.

The Bill ‘On the Town of Shusha, the Cultural Capital of Azerbaijan’ was approved in the second reading in the end.

Next, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova declared the second item on the agenda as being the Bill ‘On the Utilisation of the State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic in 2020’, coming up for the first reading. Madame Speaker added that the Bill had been submitted to the Milli Majlis by 15 May in keeping with the procedure stipulated in the Budgetary System Law. Besides, the Chamber of Accounts drafted and submitted its relevant opinion statement to the Parliament on time.

It was Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili who gave the overview of the Bill ‘On the Utilisation of the State Budget of the Azerbaijan Republic in 2020’. According to Mr Mirkishili, the 2020 State Budget had been wrought in accordance with the socio-economic policy priorities and emphasis areas determined by President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. It had been made flexible with a view to possible adverse effects from the then global economic developments that the staple parameters of the state and consolidated budgets could experience, not to mention the due consideration given to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Patriotic War.

Before all else, the year 2020 is inscribed in the statehood and independence annals of the Azerbaijan Republic as one in which our lands were freed from the occupation and in which also a brilliant military, political and economic victory, the defeat of the aggressor state made real under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, Mr Mirkishili was saying. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic from the very dawn of 2020 had brought about a slack in economic activity. The abrupt fall of world-market oil prices only added to the scale and acuteness of the unfolding economic crisis. So, the arrangements that the State was making then had at their core mitigation of possible adverse economic impacts of the pandemic in Azerbaijan, protection of the population’s social well-being and upholding a steady economic growth. A more dramatic decline in the national economy was avoided consequently.

The real-terms gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 4.3% including the 2.6% drop in the non-oil sector and the 7.0% slide in the oil one during 2020. For that, the agriculture that leads the non-oil GDP rose by 1.9% in the same year. There were, besides, the increases by 4.6% in transport and warehousing, by 0.6% in the information communication sector and by 12.5% in the industrial outputs unrelated to oil and gas. The inflation remained at 2.8% whilst the average price per 1 bbl of crude oil settled at US$43.7 last year. The struggle against the COVID-19 pandemic and the efforts that were made to clear the complications it had caused, too, impacted the budget utilisation by bringing about the need in higher social spending. War situation administration, financing the combat, boosting the care of the families of those killed in action as well as of soldiers and officers, and restoration of the de-occupied territories were further important goals in the budget performance context along with that.

The 2020 State Budget’s revenues amounted to AZN 24,681.7 mn as against the projected AZN 24,124.0 mn, that is to say, the actual revenues exceeded the forecast ones by AZN 557.7 mn or 2.3%. As regards the expenditures last year, they added up to AZN 26,416.3 mn having fallen 3.9% short of the projected AZN 27,492.2 mn. The factual social spending of AZN 9,654.2 mn accounted for 36.5% of the aggregate budgetary expenditures last year. On the whole, the net weight of the social spending had risen, in natural units, 1.6 times or by AZN 3.5 bn over the five years past. The 2020 State Budget’s health care expenses reached AZN 1.7 bn. The funds equalling AZN 950 mn were allocated to keep the compulsory medical insurance system in motion while the counter-pandemic action cost the country close to AZN 2 bn including AZN 460 mn released in support of business enterprises and AZN 450 mn set aside for one-off payments to the population. The 2020 State Budget deficit was equal to AZN 1,734.6 mn and was AZN 1,633.6 mn or twice down from the corresponding forecast.

Completing his speech, Tahir Mirkishili said that the utilisation of the 2020 State Budget had played a positive role in carrying out the principal state and social tasks, securing the victory in the Patriotic War, improving the social welfare, keeping the macroeconomic stability in the country in place, countering the COVID-19 pandemic and supporting economic operators.

Mr Mirkishili was followed by Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov who spoke of the remarkable victory over Armenia the Invader during the 44-day Patriotic War – the victory won thanks to the president and commander-in-chief of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev having put in practice the most advanced combat strategy of the 21^st century and thanks also to the valour of the Azerbaijani Army. The occupation of the Azerbaijani lands that had lasted for nearly thirty years had been ended; a new and glorious leaf was opened in the history of the country in general and Garabagh in particular. On the other hand, the national economy had been put to a grave test from the very start of last year; it had experienced two external shocks. The first one came in the shape of the problems caused by the coronavirus pandemic and the need to adjust the economy to the new reality. Secondly, the falling demand for crude oil in world markets dragged crude oil and oil-product prices down dramatically. Those processes had their adverse influences on the national economy; they caused a GDP shrinkage and brought about substantial changes in how the state and consolidated budgets’ revenues are formed as well as in the state budget expenditures.

The pandemic-bred situation that was new in a qualitative way made necessary the state support for the vulnerable sections of the community, business operators, small and medium enterprises, health care and public companies. A complex state programme of socio-economic action was put together as instructed by the President of the country; the programme implementation followed duly. The priority-orientation and targeting of both the state and consolidated budgets were enhanced in view of all that. All the social obligations were honoured in time and in full during the reported year; also, the medical staff working in the pandemic environment were paid special mark-ups in alignment with the new realia. The support extended to the areas hit hard by the pandemic made it possible to reduce its impact on the national economy as well as the public health and social-economic situation alike. Development of the national military capability and posture continued determinedly despite the problems posed by the pandemic.

Mr Sharifov emphasised in his speech that the prompt steps of President Ilham Aliyev in economic administration, his preventive and regulatory arrangements and the use of the financial reserves accumulated in the country during the preceding years had seriously neutralised possible negative effects of the global economic processes on the national economy. Besides, the concerted monetary and budget policy made certain that the manat remained stable.

The moves of the Azerbaijani State last year to fight the pandemic were traced by the international finance institutions, too. For example, the International Monetary Fund underlined the immediate connexion between those moves, including the backing given to the health care sector and economy, and the slowdown of the infection’s disease and the public health protection. The IMF also pointed at the aid provided to the citizens belonging to the vulnerable social categories.

A radical optimisation of budget spending done brought about sizeable cuts in several areas last year. In general, the State Budget spending plans were done to 96.1% with the untapped portion having made AZN 1 bn 75 mn. Structurally, AZN 16 bn 657 mn or 61.1% of the total actually spent went down on current expenses while AZN 8 bn 33 mn or 30.4% was applied to capital expenses and AZN 1 bn 726 mn or 6.5% to servicing the state debts and liabilities. The social spending of the 2020 State Budget reached AZN 8 bn 805 mn and made 33.3% of the total. As much as AZN 1 bn 870 mn was spent on the anti-pandemic efforts including AZN 613 mn taken up by health care activities. The backing given to business operations equalled AZN 813 mn; AZN 505 mn was paid in allocations to the socially vulnerable population groups and to other social ends. Therewith, the Azerbaijani State was actively involved in the international struggle against the coronavirus, and released AZN 39 mn in total to international institutions and other countries as instructed by the President.

Mr Sharifov then cited some other statistical figures related to the state budget utilisation and concluded his report by saying that in the year 2020 that had proven to be difficult socio-economically because of the drawbacks caused by the pandemic, the flexible and timely socio-economic arrangements made under the guidance of the President of Azerbaijan had kept the macroeconomic stability and financial viability in place and had seen to it that all the tasks on the agenda had been financed steadily.

Next, the House listened to the opinion statement by the Chamber of Accounts of the Azerbaijan Republic about both the 2020 State Budget Utilisation Bill and the annual report that went with it.

Chairman of the Chamber of Accounts Vugar Gulmammadov stated his ideas about the compliance of both the Bill and the report with the current legislative requirements, the correctness and fullness of the budgetary parameters, the performed budgetary parameters’ conformity with the adopted indicators and the timeliness of budgetary funds’ transfers to the Treasury Account. Mr Gulmammadov also told the House of the extensive analytical work that the Chamber had done on the performance of the State Budget.

The committee chairs Ganira Pashayeva and Musa Guliyev as well as the MPs Tahir Karimli and Mahir Abbaszade let their relevant commentaries be heard before an intermission was declared.

The deliberations upon the 2020 State Budget Utilisation Bill were resumed after the hiatus. The committee chairmen Zahid Oruj and Siyavush Novruzov, and the MPs Elnur Allahverdiyev, Elman Nasirov, Soltan Mammadov, Azer Badamov and Fazail Agamali commented on the state budget revenues and expenditures, and complimented on the performance of the budget plans.

In the end, the 2020 State Budget Utilisation Bill was approved in the first reading.

Minister of Finance Samir Sharifov thanked the assembled for the fruitful discussion and gave thorough answers to MPs’ questions.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova let it be known then that the coming nine agenda items were the Bills lined up for the third reading.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli tabled for the third reading the package of amendments to the Civil Code and the Law ‘On Insurance’ of the Azerbaijan Republic. The document is composed pursuant to the ‘Strategic Roadmap to Development of Financial Services in the Azerbaijan Republic’ that was approved with the presidential decree No 1138 dated 6 December 2016. The purpose is to regulate the insurance business and practice, and to streamline the corresponding supervision mechanism.

The Bill was approved in the third reading.

Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili presented before the MPs the draft amendments to the Law ‘On State Procurements (in the third reading) and said that they envisaged a prompter, more flexible and better accessible state procurement process, expansion of the application scope of the e-procurements, digitalisation of the quotation requesting procedure, streamlining the procedures associated with state procurements by making the former more transparent and efficient, putting on more state procurements made electronically and, last but not least, expanding the supervision options.

The Bill was approved in the third reading.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli tabled the third reading of the amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences of the Azerbaijan Republic, which had been drawn up, he remarked, for unification with the amendments to be made to the State Procurement Law.

The draft law was approved in the third reading.

Deputy Chairman of the Health Care Committee Rashad Mahmudov said as he was giving an overview of the third reading of the amendments to the Medical Insurance Law that they had been intended to support those applying for medical services and to give them more opportunities to turn to medical institutions.

The Bill was approved in the third reading.

The next item – the third reading of the Bill on amending the Law ‘On the State Border of the Azerbaijan Republic’ – was introduced by MP Arzu Naghiyev who described the Bill’s purpose as consisting in clear regulation and streamlining of the public relations coming under the enforcement umbrella of the law in question.

The Bill was approved in the third reading.

Arzu Naghiyev then tabled the substantively interrelated two agenda items. Those were the draft of amendments to the Labour and Tax Codes of the Azerbaijan Republic, and the draft amendments to the Garrison and Guard Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic (the Law No 886 dated 23 September 1994), the Internal Service Charter of the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic (the Law No 887 dated 27 September 1994), the Military Service Performance Regulation (the Law No 377-IQ 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’.

The third-reading amendments have to do with the privileges of the persons awarded the ‘Patriotic War Hero’ title, the MP specified.

Each of the two Bills was voted through the third reading separately.

Next, Chairman of the parliamentary Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev told the House that the amendments to the Employment Law (in the third reading) were aimed at improving the current legislation setting the order of arranging self-employment for the jobless complete with making this activity field more transparent and controllable.

This Bill, too, was approved in the third 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 third reading) was tabled by Chairman of the Agrarian Policy Committee Tahir Rzayev. Mr Rzayev said the amendments had been taken favourably during the second reading.

The tabled Bill was approved in the third reading.

That was followed the commentary of Chairman of the Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Committee Sadig Gurbanov on the Bill ‘On Employment of Renewable Energy Sources in Electricity Generation’ (in the second reading). Mr Gurbanov mentioned the MPs having made certain suggestions during the first reading; he added that those suggestions would be taken into account when state regulatory legal acts were drawn up in the course of the future application of the said law.

The new law of 5 chapters and 20 articles is going to set the legal, economic and administrative foundations for the use of renewable energy sources in generation electricity; it will also define incentive mechanisms for employment of renewable energy sources and will regulate the relations emerging in this area.

Comments came from the MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Fazail Agamali and Naghif Hamzayev, whereupon the Bill was put on vote and approved in the second reading.

As for the next agenda item, it was a set of amendments to the Civil Service Law, tabled in the second reading by a member of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee of the Milli Majlis Kamal Jafarov. MP Jafarov mentioned the current consideration of the motioned made at the first reading, and expanded on the subject at length.

The proposed amendments are to improve administration within the Civil Service, develop the staffing potential of the state authorities and increase the yield of their work and define the Civil Service job positions to which state authority heads may recruit employees without having to apply to the State Examinations Centre. Several other important issues will be addressed as well.

This matter was commented on by the MPs Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Afat Hasanova and Etibar Aliyev; Kamal Jafarov responded to their comments. The Bill was approved in the second reading then.

Anar Mammadov of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee tabled the draft amendments to the Law ‘On the Credit Unions’ in the first reading. The document stipulates the submission by a credit union of borrower data to a credit bureau and the Centralised Credit Register (CCR) under the auspices of the Central Bank. The new Article 15-1 is to regulate the exchange of information between the CCR and the credit bureaux, on the one hand, and the credit unions, on the other. It follows from the presented legislative addendum that a credit union is obliged to report the data on each borrower to at least one credit bureau and – in the manner prescribed by the Central Bank of the Azerbaijan Republic – also to the CCR of the CBA. It is further stated in the document that the procedure whereby a credit union shall submit borrower data to a credit bureau or, conversely, obtain such data from a credit union is laid down in the Law ‘On Credit Bureaux’.

The presentation was followed by the remarks from the committee chairman Siyavush Novruzov and the MPs Aydin Huseynov, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Vugar Bayramov, Fazail Agamali and Tahir Karimli. Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili clarified several issues raised by the commenters.

After that, the Bill was approved in the first reading.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis and Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli noted whilst speaking about the first-reading amendments to the Code of Administrative Offences that they were in direct relation to the motioned amendments to the Law ‘On Credit Unions’. As such, the amendments would introduce an administrative liability for failure of banks and non-bank credit institution of the information covered by the effective legislation to the CCR and the credit bureaux alike, and such failure on the part of credit unions in relation to the CCR and credit bureaux – in keeping with the established manner and timing. An incomplete, incorrect or delayed submission, too, will entail administrative penalties.

The Bill was approved in the first reading.

Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova delivered a speech towards the close of the sitting.

Madame Speaker recalled that the people were going to celebrate the Republic Day tomorrow, the 28^th of May: 103 years ago, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was established to materialise the many-century statehood potential of our nation under new historical conditions and to satisfy the nation’s independence wish. The confident steps taken towards a democratic and secular state and the inception of a legislature meeting the present-day model of parliamentarism showed the commitment of the Azerbaijani people to democratic thinking and democratic life-style as well as their communion respecting the universal human values. That occurrence played a crucial role in the political evolution of the Muslim East as a whole.

The Azerbaijan Republic of our time is the successor to the Democratic Republic that emerged at the turn of the 20^th century. It can be safely said that the traditions established by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic persevere, continue and progress in a dignified manner in the workings of the Azerbaijani State – one that solved its biggest problems by restoring its territorial integrity under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev of the Azerbaijan Republic and putting those making territorial claims to Azerbaijan back in their befitting place.

Sahiba Gafarova stressed that the Azerbaijan Republic is today a powerful state that looks into the future with confidence, a state whose words matter and are decisive in the region. Doubtless, the Azerbaijani State that moves from one victory to another assuredly thanks to the farsighted policy of our President will achieve yet greater successes in the coming years. It will retain its place amongst the important countries of the world and will continue its progress, according to Mrs Gafarova.

‘Dear colleagues, I congratulate each of you on the Republic Day from the bottom of my heart! Also, I suggest we should address congratulatory letters to our esteemed President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva on behalf of the Milli Majlis. Let us wish them further achievements in their important work that is done to make the Azerbaijani State yet stronger and more advanced, and the prosperity of our nation yet higher,’ Madame Speaker said.

The House met Madame Speaker’s offer with applaud.

Sahiba Gafarova then congratulated on the holiday the mass media people covering the work of the Milli Majlis.

And with that, the parliamentary sitting was over.

The Press and Public Relations
Department The Milli Majlis