Parliament holds last meeting of 2015
By Aynur Karimova
The Azerbaijani Parliament held its last meeting of the autumn session on December 29. The agenda of the meeting covered several issues, particularly the country's anti-crisis measures, and adoption of amendments to the existing laws.
Opening the session, Parliamentary speaker Ogtay Asadov said the government has prepared a plan of measures to overcome the current difficult economic situation.
“The plan will be made public soon,” he added. The speaker also spoke about the issue of problem loans, adding that the efforts will be made to solve it in a planned manner.
The value of the manat dropped on December 21, following the CBA decision to allow a freely floating exchange rate. As a result, the US dollar and euro rose by nearly 50 percent in value in Azerbaijan, making the manat the world’s worst-performing currency this year.
In his remarks, MP Samad Seyidov urged the diplomats and the diplomatic corps of Azerbaijan in foreign countries to shift to economy regime.
While discussing amendments to the law "On diplomatic service", Seyidov noted that the diplomats like others should be more economical due to the current crisis.
"It is necessary to monitor the activities of the Azerbaijani embassies in foreign countries in order to determine which of them are doing their work well," he noted.
Law on mass media amended
On the same day, the parliament also discussed a bill on amending the law “On Mass Media”.
In accordance with the changes proposed to Article 19 of the law, the decision of the relevant public authority – Azerbaijan National Television and Radio Council is also necessary for suspension or termination of television or radio broadcasting of any company, along with decision of court and founder in cases stipulated by the law “On Television and Radio Broadcasting.”
After discussions, the amendments to the law have been adopted.
New Administrative Code adopted
The parliament also adopted a new Code of Administrative Offences.
The new code, which consists of 40 chapters and 608 articles (previously it included 35 chapters and 458 articles), provides for stricter penalties and other innovations in several areas. The new code will come into force since May 1, 2016.
Bill on human rights' state in US submitted to parliament
On the same day, the bill on "State of human rights in the US" was submitted at a plenary session of the Azerbaijani parliament.
The bill was submitted by its author, MP Rovshan Rzayev, who called it a protest against double standards used against Azerbaijan.
Rzayev called for discussing the bill in the parliamentary committees.
The US Helsinki Commission, chaired by Chris Smith, submitted an anti-Azerbaijani bill to the Congress in December.
The bill will be discussed in the human rights committee, the committee on legal policy and state building, as well as the committee on international and inter-parliamentary relations upon the instructions of Ogtay Asadov.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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