Four items were addressed at the first meeting of the Milli Majlis Committee for Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology in the 2021 autumn session that was held remotely on 17 September.

Committee Chairman Sadig Gurbanov first brought forth the committee performance report that covered the spring and extraordinary sessions of the Milli Majlis in 2021. The 16 committee meetings held in that time-span had been dedicated to 18 items, all considered thoroughly, and, in particular, a number of Bills that had contained amendments to effective legislative acts. Amongst them were the amendments to the laws ‘On Employment of Renewable Energy Sources in Electricity Generation’ and ‘On the Rational Exploitation of Energy Resources and the Energy Efficiency’, which the Milli Majlis had enacted on the three readings done by the Committee.

One of the outstanding Bills that the parliamentary Committee had processed during the spring session was the document on ratification of the interstate memorandum of understanding between the Azerbaijan Republic and Turkmenistan about exploration, development and exploitation of the hydrocarbon resources of the shelf (offshore) oil and gas condensate field ‘Dostlug’ in the Caspian Sea.

Sadig Gurbanov told the meeting participants that an online conference ‘On the Environmental Situation in the Lands De-Occupied during the Patriotic War; Perspective Projects and the Innovative Garabagh’ had been held by the Milli Majlis at the instance of the Committee in the discussed period. Furthermore, there had been numerous appeals sent to national parliaments, international environmentalist and ecological entities, international conventions’ secretaries and international non-governmental ecological organisations, all telling about the environmental terror that the ruthless enemy had committed against the environment and, in particular, the nature in the liberated Azerbaijani territories.

Also during the session, the parliamentary Committee members had made regular mass media appearances and had been taking an active part in the operations of the Milli Majlis working groups for inter-parliamentary contacts.

All of the 297 applications submitted to the Committee in the spring and extraordinary sessions of 2021 had been scrutinised and forwarded to appropriate agencies for the appropriate action to be taken. The issues brought up in the in-coming correspondence had been resolved for the most part. Besides, the chairman of the Committee had had 50 meetings, both at the Milli Majlis and in situ, and had listened to the 313 oral appeals of the citizens with due care and attention.

That was followed by the discussion of the Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Committee’s work plan for the 2021 autumn session. That plan encompasses legislative activities and a string of varied events including those functions that are to be undertaken together with the concerned entities. Namely, there will be waste management measures at the Surakhani Landfill and a commission drawn from the Committee will be put together to assess the current state and to cover the intended restoration of the Hajikabul Lake – both projects being in the context of the National Solid Waste Management Improvement Strategy of the Azerbaijan Republic for the years 2018-2022. In addition, there are to be hearings on the global climatic change’s impact on Azerbaijan; debates on the water problems and the quality of water; a study of the ecological state of affairs in the de-occupied lands and so forth.

Returning to the committee meeting, Sadig Gurbanov tabled as the next agenda item the package of draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Civil Code of the Azerbaijan Republic and to the Laws ‘On Insolvency and Bankruptcy’, ‘On Execution’, ‘On Banks’, ‘On Theatre and Theatrical Activities’, ‘On the Insurance Practice’, ‘On the Special Economic Treatment of the Export-Oriented Petroleum Operations’ and ‘On Employment’. Deliberations began after the presentation. Ultimately, the Committee recommended that the Bill in question should be brought up at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

The items on the agenda of the meeting were commented on by Deputy Chairman of the Committee Asim Mollazade and the MPs Nasib Mahamaliyev, Mashhur Mammadov, Naghif Hamzayev, Iltizam Yusifov and Afat Hasanova. The speakers also made known what they thought of the work done by the Committee, and made certain proposals.

MP Aliabbas Salahzade and Deputy Chief of the Milli Majlis Staff Yashar Amashov were taking part in the Committee meeting, too.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis