The Milli Majlis met in plenary for the first time in the current spring session under the presidency of Speaker Sahiba Gafarova on 1 February.

Mrs Gafarova declared the session open; the state anthem of the Azerbaijan Republic was sounded.

Madame Speaker addressed the outcomes of last year. She reminded the House that there had been 38 parliament sittings and that 222 laws and decisions had been adopted at them. The work done by the parliament had been doing had been honed in on underpinning the far-sighted domestic and foreign policy of the esteemed President Ilham Aliyev; the legislature had also been responding responded to the public and political highlights of the country.

The international activities never abated in between the sessions, either, according to Mrs Gafarova.

For instance, the delegation of Montenegro led by the speaker of the Montenegrin parliament Mr Aleksa Bečić called at the Milli Majlis on 17 January. Some matters were discussed with them. Amongst other things, Mrs Gafarova said, she had told the Montenegrin visitors about the Azerbaijani Army led by the president and commander-in-chief of our country having liberated our native lands from occupation in the Patriotic War that had taken 44 days. Thus, the Azerbaijan Republic had also fulfilled independently the four resolutions of the UN Security Council that had been merely on paper for long years and had restored the wholeness of its national territory. Restoration and building are in progress in the lands freed after thirty years of the Armenian captivity now. As the President of Azerbaijan had said, we wish to talk about peace and not war in the Caucasian Region, Mrs Gafarova was saying at the meeting with Mr Bečić and his delegation. The head of the Montenegrin parliament, in turn, was stressing that his country supported the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Azerbaijan without fail and was a friend to Azerbaijan. Mr Bečić congratulated our nation on the successes achieved. Other matters were discussed at that meeting as well. For example, they talked over the growth prospects of the inter-parliamentary connexions and the need to have our MPs continue their interaction and their mutual support in international organisations.

Going further, Madame Speaker reminded the House of the Milli Majlis delegation’s having attended the winter session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe towards the end of January. The delegation leader Samad Seyidov had been elected First Deputy Chairman of the PACE Monitoring Committee there, Mrs Gafarova mentioned before congratulating Mr Seyidov on election and wishing him further successes in his endeavours.

As for the spring session, it will be full of interesting and intense work. The legislative plan for it is ready and will be discussed today, according to Sahiba Gafarova. In addition to discussing draft laws, the House will listen to the report by the Cabinet of Ministers that is coming up in line with the Constitution. Furthermore, the 2021 State Budget’s performance will be considered at one of the sittings of the Milli Majlis. The MPs are to hear and discuss the annual reports to be submitted by the Chamber of Accounts, the National Co-ordinator against Human Trafficking, the Human Rights Commissioner (Ombudsman) and the executive authority implementing administrative supervision over the activities of the municipalities. The current session will see arrangements be put in place to strengthen and broaden the international relations of the Milli Majlis further. To this end, they will continue the work done in the international organisations of which the Azerbaijani legislature is a member; there will be abroad trips as well as receptions of overseas parliaments’ speakers and delegations in Baku. Besides, several international events, earmarked to take place in Baku and in other countries, in which the Milli Majlis will be taking place.

The speaker of the Milli Majlis expressed a confidence that the spring session would be setting high standards and wished everybody success.

As regards the agenda of the plenum, it consisted of 12 items. It was adopted duly, after which the leader of the parliament let the assembly know that the first three items were draft resolutions of the Milli Majlis. The legislature is building its work up on the basis of the legislative work plan that it always adopted at the first meeting in plenary of every session. So, Item I of today’s plenum, Mrs Gafarova said, was that plan, which contained ten paragraphs.

Ideas about the spring-session work plan were voiced by the committee chairmen Siyavush Novruzov and Musa Guliyev. Some thoughts were also made heard by the MPs Ali Masimli, Fazil Mustafa, Elman Nasirov, Naghif Hamzayev, Bahrouz Maharramov, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Vugar Bayramov, Fazail Agamali, Sahib Aliyev, Aziz Alakbarov, Aydin Huseynov and Vahid Ahmadov. The document is progressive by nature; the topics it covers are to the point while the lined up draft laws matter, the speakers were saying. Several proposals regarding the plan were put forth as well.

In the end, the House voted for the draft resolution of the Milli Majlis about its legislative work plan for the spring session of 2022.

Next, Speaker Sahiba Gafarova announced the mandatory task of putting together the Disciplinary Commission as per Article 41 of the Internal Charter of the parliament. The relevant draft resolution was seconded by the House.

After that, Speaker Gafarova pointed at the other mandatory task – that of forming the Tally Commission of the Milli Majlis. That task, too, was accomplished by the MPs voting in favour of the relevant resolution.

Then it was the turn of the two other items on the agenda that were the ratification bills on international documents, both to be considered and adopted in one reading only.

Item IV was a bill of ratification of the Shusha Declaration which elevated the relationship between Azerbaijan and Turkey, the two states of the one and the same people, to the heights of partnership whilst also charting the strategic roadmap for it. The declaration, this vivid expression of our friendly and fraternal nations’ aspirations and intentions, turned a completely new leaf in the annals of bilateral strategic partnership. Incidentally, Mrs Gafarova added, today’s plenum was graced by Fadime Gözde Çolak, the second secretary of the embassy of Turkey in Azerbaijan.

The chairman of the International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations Committee Samad Seyidov told the assembly of the bill of ratification of the Shusha Declaration ‘Of the Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Republic of Turkey’. The document, which the president of Azerbaijan had submitted to the Milli Majlis, is of historic importance for our nation and state, Mr Seyidov emphasised. Our people had waited for it impatiently for years; it is won with the blood of our shahids. It was composed as an outcome of the exceptional services and heroism of President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev. And now, here and today, it is being brought before the eyes of the members of the Milli Majlis. They are to consider ratifying one of the crucial documents in the Azerbaijani statehood history – the historic declaration which has raised the Turkish-Azerbaijani connexion to the level of partnership to the backdrop of the current international tensions and, at the same time, will preserve and take further the new realia that are established in our region. It is one of those documents that will provide the top-notch defence of the liberated Garabagh and of the very futurity of Azerbaijan, according to Mr Seyidov.

Having listened to the overview by Samad Seyidov, the MPs extended their support for the Shusha Declaration whilst Chair Sahiba Gafarova commented that it was a joy for the members of the sixth-convention Milli Majlis to vote on such a document.

Eventually, the draft law of ratification of the Shusha Declaration ‘Of the Partnership between the Azerbaijan Republic and the Republic of Turkey’ was put on vote and adopted.

Going further, Samad Seyidov presented to the colleagues the draft law of ratification of the Azerbaijani-Serbian inter-governmental treaty about mutual cancellation of visa requirements for both sides’ citizens holding passports of the general issue. It follows from the treaty that was signed in Belgrade on 11 October 2021 that the citizens of the two countries will not have to obtain visas for a period of up to 90 days within the 180-day stay in either country; this applies to exits and transit travels as well as to those who land in either country for the first time. Apart from its promise to foster the growth in the relations between Azerbaijan and Serbia, this document also matters in that it will facilitate the travels of the Azerbaijani and Serbian citizens to and fro and, pari passu, to other destinations.

The treaty between the Government of the Azerbaijan Republic and the Government of the Republic of Serbia about mutual cancellation of visa requirements for their citizens was put on vote and approved subsequently.

The chairman of the Economic Policy, Industries and Enterprising Committee Tahir Mirkishili tabled the draft amendments to the law ‘On the Suspension of Business Enterprise Checks’ envisaging the extension of the moratorium from its previous expiry date on 1 January 2022 to 1 January 2023, that is, by another year. This suspension promotes the growth of business enterprising; besides, it is important in terms of enhancing transparency in the business community.

The MPs Razi Nurullayev and Iltizam Yusifov had told the House what they thought of the amendments before the Bill was voted for in one reading only.

After that, the leader of the Defence, Security and Counter-Corruption Committee Ziyafet Asgarov tabled the first-reading amendment to the Law ‘On the Armed Forces of the Azerbaijan Republic’, too, submitted to the Milli Majlis by way of the legislative initiative of the president of the country. The new edition of Article 9.6 of the law suggests that the procedures for dedicated separate supply and equipment provisions for the Army and the other uniformed branches, in peacetime and at war (armed conflicts), shall be defined and imposed by the concerned executive authority body. Mr Asgarov underlined the importance of the amendment and said that it was based on the experience gleaned from the Patriotic War.

The Bill was adopted in the first reading.

Sahiba Gafarova announced the presence at the plenary sitting of the chairman of the board of the Baku Transport Agency Vusal Karimli and the head of the BTA Legal Department Dashghin Ibadov in connection with the next item on the agenda.

Kamal Jafarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee proceeded to put to the House the gist of the interlinked amendments to the Traffic Law and the Code of Administrative Offences (both in the first reading). The two sets of draft have to do with the presidential decree No 181 ‘On the Additional Measures to Ensure Observance in Baku City of the Transport-Vehicle Stopping, Stationing and Parking Rules and on the Improvement of the Traffic Control Practice’ (dated 6 July 2018) and pursued the goal of adjusting the traffic regulations as well as keeping pedestrians safe. The amended articles of the Traffic Law are designed to improve regulation of transport-vehicle stops and parking whereas the amendments to the Code toughen the fines for violation of the regulations.

Before the Bill was voted through the first reading, it had received comments from the MPs Fazil Mustafa, Razi Nurullayev, Gudrat Hasanguliyev, Fazail Agamali and Rufat Guliyev.

Chair Sahiba Gafarova said then that the items ten and eleven, too, were the Bills submitted by President Aliyev in one package and, again, were interconnected substantively. Deputy Minister for Energy Samir Valiyev, head of the Energy Ministry’s Legal Department Ibrahim Agayev and other functionaries had joined today’s plenary sitting in connexion with those points.

The chairman of the Natural Resources, Energy and Ecology Committee Sadig Gurbanov put to the House the Bills containing amendments to the Gas Distribution Law and the Code of Administrative Offences, both being in the first reading and both intended to streamline the legislative prevention of carbon monoxide poisonings and gas explosions. The committee chairman pointed out the need to increase the efficiency of the inspections of gas installations and lines as well as of chimneys. It is equally necessary to eliminate faults found promptly and to enhance the responsibility of gas distribution organisations. This context brings forth a number of amendments, new terms and rules that are written into the corresponding articles of the law.

The Bill concerned with the Gas Distribution Law envisages a transfer from the state authorities to the gas distributing organisations of the inspection and maintenance authority with regards to gas devices and mains, chimneys as well as ventilation and blow-through circuits, Mr Gurbanov specified. The document suggests gratis inspections of gas equipment and lines, chimneys and ventilation circuits of consumers by a gas distribution company in order to determine their serviceability and compliance with the safety regulations as well as to detect defects and irregularities.

Besides, the Bill contains the requirements applicable to specialist contractors, controlling expert checks and maintenance and assessment of the damage caused to a gas distribution entity by consumers tinkering with the gas meters or by illegal cut-ins to gas mains.

This overview was followed by the one given by Kamal Jafarov of the Law Policy and State-Building Committee and concerned with the first-reading amendments and addenda to the Code of Administrative Offences, again.

There is an addendum to Article 279.0.1-1 of the Code on violation of the gas meter and line, chimney, ventilation and blow-through circuit maintenance regulations.

Besides, the new edition of Article 542 envisages timely detection and elimination of faults posing environmental, health and property health, and making those activities better accountable-for. There will be fines for violations in this field: AZN 200-400 for physical persons, AZN 1,000-1,500 for office-holders and AZN 2,500-3,000 for legal persons.

Comments followed from the MPs Soltan Mammadov and Razi Nurullayev and then, the Bills were voted through the first reading one by one.

Chair Sahiba Gafarova announced the next agenda item being a set of amendments to the Freedom of Faith Law and telling the House of the related presence at the plenum of Gunduz Ismayilov, Deputy Chairman of the State Committee for Religious Entities.

Deputy Chair of the Milli Majlis/chairman of the Committee for Public Associations and Religious Entities Fazail Ibrahimli put the matter to the House. The amendments to the five chapters of the existing law could conventionally be put in three groups, Mr Ibrahimli said. According to Article 8, the authority to appoint clerics to Muslim shrines and temples will be handed from the clerical centre to the religious committee. Also, the proposed amendment to Article 9-1.4 states that that a change in a legal address of a religious entity shall be reported to the appropriate executive authority body within 10 days. There are certain changes in the Parts II and III of Article 12, besides. The new edition postulates that religious entities intending to become registered by the State are required to accompany their registration applications being submitted to the appropriate executive authority body with their inception protocols, charters and the other documents provided for in the Law ‘On the State Registration and the State Register of Legal Entities’ of the Azerbaijan Republic. An application being served by a faith community shall also be accompanied with the list of the names of at least fifty persons of legal age who have formed the community (or of their authorised representatives) and the list of the community founders detailing their citizenship(s), place(s) of abode and DOBs c/w copies of their respective IDs. In addition to that, the communities shall present the basics of their religious teachings, indicate their establishment dates, specify the form and methods of activity and state their attitude(s) towards the traditions, the institutions of family and marriage and towards education. And, lastly, a faith community intending to become registered by the State is required to submit information about restraints, if any, that it is imposing on the rights and obligations of its members.

Furthermore, the new addendum to Article 18 indicates that it will be for an office to be appointed by the appropriate executive authority body to determine the procedure whereby religious entities are to receive benefactions. Also, it being in pace with the times, monetary donations may be accepted not only in the orthodox forms but also via banks, by post, plastic cards, e-payment systems and via the Internet.

The MPs Jeyhun Mammadov, Tahir Rzayev, Etibar Aliyev, Malahat Ibrahimghizi, Fazil Mustafa, Azer Badamov and Azay Guliyev shared their thoughts about the document, which was then put on vote and approved in the first reading.

The first plenary sitting of the spring session of the Milli Majlis was over.

The Press and Public Relations Department
The Milli Majlis