The first plenary sitting in the 2021 autumn session of the Milli Majlis was held on 30 September. Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova declared the autumn session open and the National Anthem of the Azerbaijan Republic was sounded.

Madame Speaker congratulated the House on the start of the parliamentary session and wished the MPs fruitful endeavours during it.

The 27^th of September – three days ago – had been marked as the Memory Day in our country, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova continued. President and Commander-in-Chief of the Azerbaijan Republic Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mehriban Aliyeva had joined the march in Baku in memory of the soldiers and officers who had laid their lives down for the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and of our killed and missing compatriots. The cornerstones of the Patriotic War Memorial Complex and the Victory Museum were laid.

The Head of the State detailed in his public address the preconditions to our Victory in the 44-day Patriotic War waged for justice as well as for our dignity and national pride. He showed the underbelly of the Armenian Fascism that had held our lands in its grips for thirty years and had committed bloody crimes against peaceful population both during and after the war. The State of Azerbaijan will remain a victor state and the people of Azerbaijan will forever be a victor people, the country leader pointed out.

Those words of the esteemed President echoed in the heart of each of us. He said, ‘…if we ever see the Armenian Fascism rear its head again, if we notice a new source of threats to our people and state emergences, we shall not waver but shall cleave the Armenian Fascism’s head off. Let everybody know that! The ‘Iron Fist’, that symbol of war and victory, is still there and let nobody forget that. Garabagh is ours! Garabagh is Azerbaijan!’

Returning to the plenum, Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova again expressed the boundless gratitude, hers and the MPs’, to the victorious military commander Ilham Aliyev and to the valiant Azerbaijani soldiers and officers who had gifted our nation with the splendid Triumph.

She wished our gazies a good health and the warriors wounded in battle a soon recovery.

The war did not come to pass without losses on our side, unfortunately, Madame Speaker noted.

The House had a minute of silence in memory of our shahids who had sacrificed their lives for their Motherland and nation in both Garabagh Wars and in other battles; Sahiba Gafarova asked the Almighty to rest their souls in peace.

Madame Speaker said that she had informed the MPs of the outcomes of the spring and the extraordinary sessions of this year. She mentioned briefly the 22 sittings held, and the 120 laws and resolutions as well as the commentaries on the public, political and economic highlights of the country issued during the 3 parliamentary sessions past.

The international activities of the Milli Majlis continued successfully after the latest session was over. There were visits to several countries; on the other hand, arrivals from other countries were welcomed at the Milli Majlis. Our delegations took the most direct part in the work of the international organisations of which we are members. At the same time, a number of meetings and conversations were held – remotely, in view of the pandemic situation – with our foreign colleagues.

The arrivals of Chairman of the Great National Assembly of Turkey Mr Mustafa Şentop and Chairman of the National Assembly of Pakistan Asad Qaiser at the end of July and the trilateral session of the chairs of the Azerbaijani, Turkish and Pakistani parliaments in Baku on 27 July were amongst the more prominent occurrences in the international activities of the Milli Majlis. Thus was founded a new trilateral parliamentary co-operation for the friendly and brotherly states to benefit from. The first meeting of the speakers culminated in the Baku Declaration.

The joint trip of the parliament chairs to the liberated towns of Shusha and Fuzuli marked the zenith of the trilateral interaction amongst the legislatures, in the opinion of Mrs Gafarova who said she was certain that the strategic partnership and alliance between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Pakistan would grow stronger still in the years to come – all in the interests of the three nations.

July and August saw the Milli Majlis greet Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea Park Byeong-seug, a delegation of the National Assembly of France, Foreign Affairs Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic Ruslan Kazakbayev and Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan Serjan Abdikadirov. Various aspects of bilateral co-operation were discussed at those meetings.

A delegation led by First Deputy Chairman of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party Numan Kurtulmuş came to the Milli Majlis as well. As was mentioned at the conversation with them, the Azerbaijani-Turkish relations build up on the ‘one nation – two states’ formula put forth by the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev. The meeting participants stated the unanimous opinion that the ties between the New Azerbaijan Party and the Justice and Development Party pitched in weightily the advancing relations between the two countries.

According to Madame Chair, the vis-à-vis had invariably been updated on the outcomes of the 44 days’ Patriotic Meeting at all the meetings she listed. They had been told that our lands had remained captured by Armenia for almost thirty years, that the Armenian vandals had turned our towns and villages to ruins during the occupation, that the peace talks mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group had led nowhere and that Azerbaijan had enforced the UN Security Council resolutions all by itself. It had been said also that Armenia refused to give up minefields after the end of the war with our military personnel and civilians tripping mines and dying as a result.

Madame Speaker pinpointed the conversation with the member and rapporteur of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Paul Gavan in the line of meetings that had taken place in the discussed period.

‘As we could see, more often than not, this organisation demonstrates a partial, unfair attitude to our country based on false claims,’ Mrs Gafarova commented, adding that it was therefore imperative to take up every opportunity to let our European colleagues learn the truth about Azerbaijan.

At that conversation, the Chair of the Milli Majlis referred to the report ‘The Humanitarian Consequences of the Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan’ that Paul Gavan was then working on; Mrs Gafarova emphasised that it was not Armenia that had been invaded and that there had been no war in Armenian territory; consequently, there could possibly be no destruction that a war causes. Meanwhile, the traces of the occupation policy, terror and war crimes of Armenia are visible in many towns and provinces of Azerbaijan today as well. Therefore, Mrs Gafarova said, that report had best be based on objective facts and the PACE would do well to demonstrate a fair attitude to the matter.

Talking further about the important meetings held at the Milli Majlis in the discussed time span, Sahiba Gafarova remembered those with the Azerbaijani ambassadors to Turkey, Pakistan, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova and Korea and with the head of our permanent station at the Council of Europe and with the consul general in Los Angeles. Mrs Gafarova underlined at those meetings the need to spread the truth about Azerbaijan, to defend the state interests and to tap the parliamentary diplomacy resources to their fullest extent in order to make our international connexions stronger. The necessity of broadening and reinforcing the co-operation amongst legislatures, fostering the exchange of legislative experience and stepping up the joint work with the international parliamentary institutions were emphasised as well.

Going further with her account, the Chair of the Milli Majlis reminded the House of her official visit paid to the Islamic Republic of Iran on 6 August to attend the swearing-in of President Elect of the country Seyed Ebrahim Raisi. While in Iran, Mrs Gafarova had a meeting with Chair of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and members of the Iranian Parliament’s group of friendship with Azerbaijan. It was noted during that meeting that our state border with Iran had been wholly taken under control after Azerbaijan had freed its formerly-occupied lands. Also then, Sahiba Gafarova said that the Highland Garabagh Conflict was history already and that the large-scale restoration and re-building work was in progress in the de-occupied territories. During the occupation, Armenia had totally destroyed our mosques, cultural heritage and generally all the buildings and infrastructure; Armenia had been getting obscene on our sacred sites, too. The speaker of the Azerbaijani parliament also broached the subject of the thirtieth anniversary of the Khojali Genocide due next year, saying that the executive and legislative authorities of a number of Muslim and Christian countries had recognised the massacre of Khojali as genocide and that it was important that the parliament of Iran would let its attitude to that grim deed as well.

The condition of the bilateral inter-parliamentary connexions was discussed then.

Besides, Sahiba Gafarova had a meeting with the Iranian President Seyed Ebrahim Raisi during the same meeting.

The delegation led by the Chair of the Milli Majlis was in Austria on a work trip in early September to take part in the 5^th World Conference of Speakers of Parliament that was held on 8 September. In her speech at the general discussion arranged during the conference, Mrs Gafarova stressed that practical parliamentary diplomacy aiming to upkeep peace and security should firstly strive to reach its goal through assertion of respect for the fundamental principles including those of sovereignty, territorial integrity and national borders as they are recognised internationally. The Chair of the Milli Majlis also made her proposals about improving the two-way ties between the United Nations Organisation and the national parliaments.

Sahiba Gafarova said in response to the unfounded claims of the Armenian parliamentary speaker that Armenia should stop making false accusations but accept the new reality, reconcile itself with it and fulfil the requirements of the trilateral statements Adopted in November 2020 and in January 2021 in order to lay a foundation for peace and security in the region.

Other debates and assemblies were organised at the conference, too, including the 13^th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament, the congress to discuss the motion ‘The Global Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Challenges Multilateralism’s Ability to Deliver for the People’ and the First Global Parliamentary Summit on Counter-Terrorism.

As Sahiba Gafarova told the Milli Majlis, she had covered, as she had taken the floor at all those congregations, the achievements of the state policy of Azerbaijan concerning women, the problems of refugee women and the women IDP, women’s role in fighting the pandemic, our country’s international initiatives and undertakings to curb the pandemic and Azerbaijan supporting consistently the action to counter all forms and manifestations of terrorism.

The Azerbaijani delegation also had a string of bilateral meetings in the course of the working trip to Austria.

There were fruitful meetings with the IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong, Chairman of the House of Councillors of the Parliament of Japan Akiko Santō, Eliane Tillieux, Chair of the Chamber of Representatives, and Stephanie d’Hose, Chair of the Senate of the Federal Parliament of the Kingdom of Belgium, Marshal of the Senate of Poland Tomasz Grodzki, Chairman of the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament) Jüri Ratas and Chair of the Latvian Saeima Ināra Mūrniece, their Georgian colleague Kakha Kuchava and Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of Kazakhstan Nurlan Nigmatulin. Those encounters were focused on inter-parliamentary co-operation issues. Besides, Mrs Gafarova informed all those official persons of the new geopolitical situation settled in the region after the war and of Armenia’s provocations against our country.

According to Madame Speaker, she received on 13 September the delegation led by Aygul Kuspan, Chair of the International Relations, Defence and Security Committee of the Mazhilis of the Kazakh Parliament Aygul Kuspan. There, they underlined the confident advancement of our mutual relations that are rooted in ancient history. Aygul Kuspan shared her impressions of the journey to the liberated Azerbaijani towns of Shusha and Fuzuli where she had gone together with Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis Adil Aliyev and Chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for International and Inter-parliamentary Relations Samad Seyidov.

Speaking further at the plenum, Sahiba Gafarova mentioned her meeting with the delegation of the Association of Ombudsmen of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation that had been held on 15 September. Association Chairman and General Ombudsman of Turkey Şeref Malkoç, Ombudsman of Turkey Celile Özlem Tunçak and Advisor to the Ombudsman of Pakistan Muhammad Javed Ghani had come round on a rather very needful mission of investigating the cases of violation of the human rights and the international humanitarian law standards and principles in the freed territories of Azerbaijan. That and other matters were addressed comprehensively at their meeting. The same visitors also met with Chairman of a Milli Majlis Committee Zahid Oruj.

Going further, the Chair of the Milli Majlis reminded the plenary sitting participants that the parliamentary delegation she had led were in the Republic of Kazakhstan on a working and official visit on 27-29 September. There, the delegation took part in the Memory Day of Azerbaijan on 27 September at the Farab Library in the Kazakh capital city of Turkestan.

The people gathered for that ceremony remembered those fallen in the Patriotic War.

Mrs Gafarova said at that event how the heroic Azerbaijani warriors led by President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev had freed our lands from occupation and made the national territory of the country whole again at the cost of their lives and blood. The people of Azerbaijan always treasure the memory of their shahids; our heroic sons’ names are written in our statehood history scrolls and will stay there forever.

That same event was capped with the presentation of the Kazakh translations of Nizami Ganjavi’s ‘The Seven Beauties’ and ‘Leyli and Majnun’, made by the International Turkic Academy.

The goal of the working trip of the delegation of the Milli Majlis to Kazakhstan consisted in taking part in the 10^th plenary sitting of the TurkPA that went in Turkestan. TurkPA, which has a place of its own amongst the Turkic co-operation organisations, has been acting successfully for 12 years now, making it possible to tap the wealth of potential of parliamentary diplomacy in order to further the political, trading and economic, and cultural and humanitarian relations amongst our countries, Sahiba Gafarova said at the sitting.

‘As you may know, the Milli Majlis of Azerbaijan took over the chairmanship in the TurkPA from the fraternal Great National Assembly of Turkey in December 2019. As I spoke at the meeting of the Council of the Assembly, I supplied its participants in detail of the work that the organisation had done while Azerbaijan had chaired it. And the chairmanship of the Assembly was handed over to the Mazhilis of the parliament of the brotherly Kazakhstan,’ Mrs Gafarova was saying.

The tenth plenum of the TurkPA began with Chairman of the Mazhilis of the Kazakh Parliament Nurlan Nigmatulin congratulating the people of Azerbaijan on the victory in the Patriotic War and a minute of silence in memoriam of our shahids.

Issues related to furtherance of co-operation amongst the brotherly countries under the aegis of that confederacy of parliaments were discussed at the meeting then.

‘Apart from other matters, I used my speech to inform the audience of the new opportunities having emerged in the region following our people’s victory in the 44 days’ Patriotic War. I also gave them to understand that, if coupled with the transnational energy transport projects implemented in the region successfully to date, the Zangazur Corridor offered completely new prospects for strengthening the co-operation amongst the Turkic states,’ Mrs Gafarova continued.

The Milli Majlis delegation travelled to the city of Nur-Sultan as part of their official visit to Kazakhstan on 28 September.

‘Our first occasion took place at the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Kazakhstan where we put fresh flowers at the bust of the Great Leader Heydar Aliyev and honoured his memory. The Memory Day for those fallen in the 44-day Patriotic War was also marked there. We paid homage to the memory of our heroic sons who had sacrificed their lives for their nation and Motherland.’

Madame Chair mentioned the meetings arranged in continuation of the official visit with the First President – the Elbasy of the Republic of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, President Kasim-Jomart Tokayev, the chairmen of both chambers of the Kazakh Parliament – Maulen Ashimbayev and Nurlan Nigmatulin – and the members of the group for the inter-parliamentary friendship with Azerbaijan. The two sides voiced their satisfaction with the high-level relations between our amicable and fraternal states. Besides, they addressed the growth prospects of the bilateral co-operative links – including the parliaments’ joint activities. Other matters were talked about as well.

The delegation of the Milli Majlis called at the Eurasian National University named in honour of the great historian-ethnologist Lev Gumilyov in Nur-Sultan on 29 September.

‘I should like to say that I consider it a great honour and, at the same time, a huge responsibility that the Academic Council of that university – of which the esteemed President of the Azerbaijan Republic Mr Ilham Aliyev is an honorary professor – should invite me to read a lecture. In my lecture, I covered the path of historical development covered by Azerbaijan and the causes as well as the outcomes of the 44 days’ Patriotic War. In addition, I shared thoughts about the ambience of multiculturalism and tolerance that reigns in our country, the cultural and spiritual wealth of our nation and their input in world civilisation as well as about the great people that they gifted to the world.’

‘The delegation of the Milli Majlis also took part in several other events organised in Kazakhstan. At every meeting, we were raising the subject of the thirtieth anniversary of the Khojali Genocide coming next year and saying that the Parliament of Kazakhstan, too, would do well to state its attitude to the genocide’.

In between the sessions, there was another extremely important function at the Milli Majlis, Sahiba Gafarova noted. Namely, there was a videoconference themed ‘The First Anniversary of the Patriotic War: the Priorities of Post-War Co-operation between the Executive and the Legislative Authorities in the Post-War Period’. It was attended by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova, Head of the President’s Administration’s Department for Liaison with Parties and the Legislative Authority Adalat Valiyev, the Milli Majlis leadership, the committee and commission chairs and deputy chairs and members of staff of the President’s Administration and the Milli Majlis Staff.

‘I said in my statement there that the glorious victory won in the 44-day Patriotic War came as the opening sequence of a new stage in the history of the Azerbaijani statehood. President Ilham Aliyev made the agenda and goals of Azerbaijan at that stage abundantly clear at the meeting that he himself chaired and that was called on 6 January 2021 to summarise the outcomes of last year. The efficient co-operation amongst the difference branches of power provides for auspicious implementation of the strategic development line of our country, it was said at that conference. What else was said that a dialogue had been built between the Establishment and the Opposition in the country and interaction with the political parties had been reworked. A new democratic environment was created in the Milli Majlis in keeping with the reforms and development concept of the Leader of the State; members of the Opposition occupy senior positions in the parliament. Ways to continue improving the co-operation between the executive and legislative authority branches were broached as well.’

The account by the Chair of the Milli Majlis was followed by adoption of the agenda of the plenum and the proceedings began as intended.

Sahiba Gafarova announced that the agenda consisted of 15 items with the Items 1 and 2 being draft resolutions of the Milli Majlis.

The Milli Majlis adopts its legislative work plans at the beginning of every session so it can act accordingly. So, Item 1 was nothing else but the 2021 autumn-session legislative work plan that consisted of 12 points.

As the discussion started, the parliamentary committee chairmen Zahid Oruj, Musa Guliyev, Ahliman Amiraslanov, Ganira Pashayeva and Ziyafet Asgarov as well as the MPs Musa Gasimli, Azer Badamov, Fazil Mustafa, Ali Masimli, Aydin Mirzazade, Razi Nurullayev, Sahib Aliyev, Jala Aliyeva and Hikmat Mammadov joined in. The speakers said they found the work plan acceptable; at the same time, they made several suggestions regarding it.  

Besides, the MPs commented on the recent working and official visit of the parliamentary delegation led by Chair of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova to Kazakhstan. They praised the meetings and conversations held during it; they also lauded the Speaker’s urges made in Kazakhstan in connexion with the approaching thirtieth anniversary of the Khojali Genocide.

The MPs put the spotlight on the fact that President Ilham Aliyev and Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva had taken part in the Patriotic War victims’ memorial march in Baku on the Memory Day of the 27^th of September. The speakers described the victory in the 44-day Patriotic War under the command of President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev as the restoration of historical justice; they touted the role and input of Ilham Aliyev in achieving that triumph.

The 2021 autumn-session legislative work plan of the Milli Majlis was put on vote and adopted subsequently.

Sahiba Gafarova announced that Item 2 was about the Statement by the Milli Majlis of the Azerbaijan Republic on the anniversary of the beginning of the Patriotic War of the Azerbaijani people. The victorious march of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan directed by President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev added a new and glorious page to the heroic history of our nation in September-November last year. Thanks to its brilliant victory, Azerbaijan stopped the occupation of its lands that had lasted for thirty years; our country made its national territory whole again, Madame Speaker said. Decades and centuries will come to pass and yet, the courage and self-forgetfulness that our nation showed in the 44 days’ Patriotic War will be remembered. The love of their land, of the Homeland, which is only tempered with all its trials, will still well forth and sparkle, and lead the future generations from one victory to another.

The words of Sahiba Gafarova were met with applause.

Nizami Safarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Policy read aloud the Statement by the Milli Majlis. The draft was voted in then.

An intermission was declared.

The House set about processing other matters as it was gathered again after the hiatus.

Chair Gafarova announced that the third agenda item dealt with the Constitutional Bill of the Azerbaijan Republic to amend the Constitutional Law ‘On Regulatory Legal Acts’. Now, the Parliament votes on constitutional laws twice; the first vote was in the spring session and so, the second one is due today, Mrs Gafarova was saying.

First Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis, Chairman of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee Ali Huseynli who tabled the Bill emphasised the importance of this document, which had arrived at the Milli Majlis following an appropriate legal procedure by way of the legislative initiative of the President of the Azerbaijan Republic. The purposes of the Bill are to introduce an integrated and well-concerted approach to the standard-setting practice whilst making the latter steady and systematic and, secondly, to make the practice more efficient. The amendments envisage the streamlining of the practice, according to Mr Huseynli.

That Bill passed the second vote successfully.

The fourth and fifth agenda items had to do with international treaties and both were going to be passed in one reading in compliance with the already-mentioned Law ‘On Regulatory Legal Acts’, Sahiba Gafarova said then.

Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev informed the House on the Azerbaijan Republic Bill on ratification of the ‘Agreement Concluded by Bilateral Correspondence between the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic and the United Nations Population Fund’.

The Bill regarding the treaty that the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic and the UNPF concluded by exchanging the letters signed on 31 May and 21 June 2019 had been submitted to the Milli Majlis by way of the legislative initiative of the President of Azerbaijan, Mr Guliyev made clear before saying that the UNPF was the leading entity specialising in reproductive health and rights. In the 27 years of work done in Azerbaijan, the UNPF has carried into life a row of projects concerned with protection of gender rights and the reproductive health right, family planning, elimination of household violence and gender discrimination, demographic development, involving the youth in relevant processes more and so forth. All those projects have been implemented in collaboration with the Government, the private sector and the public. Such activities are continued today.

The UNPF Executive Director sent a letter to Azerbaijan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs on 31 May 2019 mentioning to him the Principal Agreement that the UNDP and the Azerbaijan Republic entered into on 6 January 2001 and suggesting that that instrument should be applied, mutatis mutandis, to the UNDP operations and local staff in the Azerbaijan Republic. That is to say, the provisions of that Principal Agreement could be employed not as they are in it but with appropriate modifications and addenda conforming to the laws and realia of the land.

MP Azer Karimli reported the opinion statement by the Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations because this parliamentary had considered the matter at hand.

And then, the Bill was voted in.

Chairman of the Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee Ziyafet Asgarov presented to the House the Bill of the Azerbaijan Republic on ratification of the Inter-Governmental Memorandum on training the special-purpose units of the Army of Azerbaijan and the Armed Forces of Turkey.

Azerbaijan and Turkey are strategic allies and have a strong relationship of the highest order. The Azerbaijani and Turkish soldiers train and drill together; it is crucial for peace, security and stability in the region that the bilateral defence co-operation should go on, according to Mr Asgarov. Ratifying the presented memorandum is taking a serious step towards deeper interaction in the concerned field; the document in question wholly meets the national interest of Azerbaijan.

MP Azer Karimli put forth the relevant opinion statement of the International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee while his colleagues Fazail Agamali, Sahib Aliyev and Elman Nasirov said what they thought of the document.

The Bill was put on vote and approved.

The Chair of the Milli Majlis said then that the next agenda items were about adjustment and unification and would be put through one reading only.

Chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili tabled the draft sets of amendments to the Tax Code of the Azerbaijan Republic and to the Customs Duty Law.

The drafts that are identical in import envisage a five-year term extension for the five-year VAT and customs-duty exemption granted to the shipbuilding resident of the Garadagh Industrial Park (est. by the decree No 1255 dated 3 June 2015 of the President of Azerbaijan) and applied to the specialist material imports by that resident. The original five-year exemption that the Ministry of Economy signed off on 1 May 2016 is due to expire this year; hence the idea to prolong it.

The two Bills were voted in separately.

Tahir Mirkishili told the assembly of the draft amendments to the Tax Code of the Azerbaijan Republic, which, he added, suggested that a portion of the sanctions and fines collections accumulated in the account of the Ministry of Economy would be applied to state and public ends – including certain transfers to the YAŞAT Foundation.

The vote followed; the Bill was adopted.

Chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev told the House about the draft amendments to the Law ‘On Perpetuating the Shahid Title and on the Shahid Household Benefits’. Mr Guliyev explained that the purpose of the document was to bring the said law into harmony with the 1 February 2021 amendments to the Employment Law whereby shahid family members are added to the law’s list of people in need of special social care and experiencing difficulties with employment. This is done to make certain that members of such families can enjoy the benefits applied to vocational training and organisation of self-employment and public works for unemployed citizens.

Mr Guliyev also tabled the draft amendments to the laws ‘On Perpetuating the Shahid Title and on the Shahid Household Benefits’ and ‘On the Social Protection of Orphans and Children Deprived of Parental Care’. The document is drawn up pursuant to the Social Benefits Law of 29 December 2020 and subject to the presidential decree dated 30 December 2020, both of which amalgamated the shahid family member benefits with the presidential pension with the latter rising from AZN 300 to AZN 500. The amendments are proposed because the utility, transport and other service benefits of such families are now replaced with the pension. Besides, orphans and children without parental care are legally on the full state sustenance.

Comments were made by the parliamentary committee chairs Hijran Huseynova and Ganira Pashayeva as well as the MPs Fazil Mustafa, Ali Masimli, Fazail Agamali, Etibar Aliyev, Sattar Mehbaliyev, Ilham Mammadov, Shahin Ismayilov and Vahid Ahmadov.

Musa Guliyev replied to the comments and the Bills were voted in one by one after that.

As he was tabling the third reading of the amendments to the State Duty Law, Vugar Bayramov of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee noted that the document was meant to alleviate the situation of the persons qualified as war invalids further. Namely, it is suggested that such people should be exempted from the state duties for initiation of lawsuits and for selling or buying flats.

The parliamentary committee chairman Musa Guliyev and MP Fazil Mustafa commented on the Bill before it was voted through the third reading.

Next, Tahir Mirkishili put before the House the draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Customs Code of the Azerbaijan Republic whereby provision of a collateral against placement of goods set for processing in the country in the special customs procedure will be made from compulsory to optional. The stipulation about the procedure being compulsory is to be erased from Article 167.3.2 and the new Article 167.3-1 is to be added: it is stipulated in it that the said provision will not be compulsory.

The Bill was voted through the first reading.

Mahir Abbaszade of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee gave an overview of the Bill (in the first reading) containing amendments to the laws ‘On Currency Regulation’, ‘On Credit Unions’, ‘On Banks’, ‘On the Post’, ‘On Accountancy’, ‘On the Insurance Practice’, ‘On Non-Bank Credit Organisations’, ‘On Investment Funds’, ‘On the Securities Market’ and ‘On Credit Bureaux’.

Mr Abbaszade said that the intent was to regulate the matters issuing from the 4 May 2018 amendments to the Accountancy Law: that law contemplates improvement of accountancy operations in line with the relevant international practice, keeping accounts locally by the international standards and introducing the professional accountant’s charter.

The proposed draft regulates also issues related to the accountancy by the financial market institutions and composition, submission and publication of financial reports by them. It is therefore planned to add to the above-said laws the new postulations about accountancy, about greater transparency in the workings of the financial market institutions and about improvement of their financial reporting to the Central Bank. Besides, there will be a number of adjustments and concretisations.

The Bill was approved in the first reading.

The draft amendments (in the first reading) to the Law ‘On Protection of the Population Health’ was presented by Chairman of the Committee of Health Ahliman Amiraslanov who told the Parliament that the document had been drafted to provide a legal basis for setting tariffs for paid public services of state-owned health institutions. Tariffs on the paid medical services not included in the service package under the Medical Insurance Law that state-run health institutions provide to the population as well as tariffs on the medical services provided to the people who are not considered insured under this law will be set by an office to be designated by the appropriate executive authority.

Going further, Ahliman Amiraslanov outlined the 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’. Mr Amiraslanov remarked that the amendments are required to keep financially steady the implementation of the compulsory medical insurance across the health care system. Also, they concern certain matters related to the compulsory medical insurance fees.

The Bill was approved in the first reading after the comments by the MPs Fazail Agamali, Sattar Mehbaliyev and Etibar Aliyev, and Ahliman Amiraslanov’s response to them.

With that, the first plenum of the Milli Majlis in the current autumn session was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department

The Milli Majlis