The chairman of the Milli Majlis Committee for Regional Affairs Siyavush Novruzov announced at the virtual committee meeting called on 18 February that the agenda consisted of three items one of them being the annual report by the authority responsible for the administrative control of the activities of the municipalities of the country. The other two items had to do with the Bills on partial remaking the administrative territorial division of Ganja City, Mr Novruzov added.

Mr Novruzov started with the said report covering the year 2021, which, he pointed out, had been marked with new achievements made by the country thanks to the leadership by President/Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev and the initiatives of First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva.

The efforts organised with regards to regional governance in response to the modern challenges also matter for elaboration of new mechanisms, the committee chairman remarked, also citing successes in the municipal governance. There positive enough tendencies in this regard within the report presented to the committee, Mr Novruzov added.

The municipalities were actively engaged in solving social issues, perpetuating the memory of our shahids and improving the well-being of their families as well as of the war veterans last year. A serious kind of work was done to enhance the efficiency of the administrative control of the operation of the municipalities and to step up the programmes of support and methodological aid to make certain that that operation is organised properly and correctly, too.

Last year saw continued arrangements aiming to streamline the regulatory and legal administration of local self-government. Elimination of legislative lacunas was taken further as well, according to the committee chairman.

Next, Deputy Minister of Justice Vilayat Zahirov told the meeting participants that the Ministry had been narrowing down on the activity to foster the evolution of local self-government and statutory compliance in the municipalities’ work. Mr Zahirov went further to tell the MPs about the practical arrangements and analytical processes that had followed the study of the 80,359 municipal acts and 4,504 applications about municipality operations that the Ministry had received withal.

Identification and elimination of corruption-provoking factors and a continued enlightenment of municipality members were mentioned as well. Besides, the focus had been on increasing the professionalism of municipality employees.

There had been the tightest interaction with the Milli Majlis to co-ordinate local self-government operations. MPs’ proposals and opinions regarding municipalities had been scrutinised and underlain the appropriate practical arrangements.

Deliberations ensued. Remarks were made by the deputy chairman of the committee Elshan Musayev and the MPs Sabina Khasayeva, Kamran Bayramov, Aliabbas Salahzade, Javid Osmanov, Aghil Mammadov and Sattar Mehbaliyev. Comments were also voiced by Head of the State Building, Administrative and Defence Legislation Department of the Milli Majlis Staff Haji Mirhashim Seyid, Chairman of the National Association of Urban Municipalities of Azerbaijan Tamraz Taghiyev, Chairman of the National Association of Village Municipalities of Azerbaijan Ali Mehdiyev, Chairman of the ‘Local Self-Government Aid’ Public Association Vusal Mirzayev and Executive Secretary of the National Association of Urban Municipalities Tofig Hasanov.

They put forth ideas about making the municipal practice more effective, boosting the reputation of the municipalities and strengthening their financial basics. Besides, the speakers touched on the important matters connected to the municipality workings.

It was recommended following the thorough discussion that the annual report by the authority responsible for the administrative control of the activities of the municipalities should be submitted for consideration of the Milli Majlis.

Next up, Siyavush Novruzov commented on the following agenda items, which were the Bill ‘On the Partial Changes in the Administrative Territorial Structure of Ganja City’ and a set of draft amendments, also in the first reading, to ‘The List of the Municipalities of the Azerbaijan Republic’ contained in the Law ‘On the Municipal Territories and Lands’ (both in the second reading). It follows from them that the existing Kapaz and Nizami districts of Ganja are to be liquidated (and their names removed from the State Register) with a view to improved administration of the city. Consequently, there will be changes in the list of municipalities, too.

Those Bills were commented upon by the chairman of the Labour and Social Policy Committee Musa Guliyev who represents Ganja and MP Kamran Bayramov.

It was recommended eventually that both sets of amendments should be tabled in the second reading at a plenary sitting of the Milli Majlis.

The other participants of the committee meeting were the remaining committee members Nizami Jafarov, Mazahir Efendiyev, Emin Hajiyev, Malik Hasanov and Tahir Rzayev as well as the MPs Naghif Hamzayev and Mushfig Jafarov, both elected in Ganja, Head of the Centre for Municipalities of the Ministry of Justice Rahman Mammadov, the leaders of close to twenty urban, settlement and village municipalities and other concerned persons.

The Press and Public Relations Department  
The Milli Majlis