1.5 million jobs created in 12 years in Azerbaijan
By Nigar Orujova
Diversifying Azerbaijan’s economy, reducing its dependence on the oil sector, developing the non-oil sector and other measures are contributing to Azerbaijan’s further development and creating more jobs for the population.
As many as 1.5 million jobs have been created in Azerbaijan since 2003, Mammad Musayev, the president of Azerbaijan’s National Confederation of Entrepreneurs Organizations said on October 27.
He made the remarks at the conference on “The new stage in the development of entrepreneurship: targets and opportunities.”
Musayev added that 87,000 jobs have been created in the country in the first nine months of 2015 and 67,000 of them are permanent.
“Despite the difficult economic situation in the world, a major part of Azerbaijan’s statistical figures continues to show sustainable development, which is one of the main factors proving the country’s successful development,” he added.
Measures adopted on suspending inspections of business activities, reducing the number of licenses, simplifying their issuance, tax and customs reforms and other steps taken recently, will speed up Azerbaijan’s economic development even more, Musayev believes.
Promoting domestic production under the conditions of the ongoing crisis in the world, issuing loans for entrepreneurs and protecting the interests of the private sector will allow for greater development of the business environment and strengthen the private sector, he noted.
For his part, Deputy Minister of Economy and Industry Sahib Mammadov said 662,000 entrepreneurs have been registered in Azerbaijan to date.
This shows that the country’s economic policy in developing entrepreneurship is sustainable and is pursued based on a successful model, he added.
He added that various decrees covering all entrepreneurial stages from starting a business to ending it have been signed in the country.
Mammadov touched upon the issue of reducing the number of licenses for business activities.
The deputy minister recommended entrepreneurs whose licenses are expiring to wait until the issuance of the updated list of licenses in order to avoid additional costs.
Earlier, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree minimizing the number of licenses, ensuring transparency and simplifying the rules of issuing licenses.
Executive Director of Azerbaijan Microfinance Association Jala Hajiyeva said at the conference that the share of women entrepreneurs in small and medium business reached 28 percent in Azerbaijan, while earlier the share of women entrepreneurs in SMEs was only four percent.
She noted that Azerbaijan pays special attention to the development of entrepreneurship among women and young people, however, like the rest of the world, the potential of women entrepreneurs in the country is not fully realized.
“The report by McKinsey said the full realization of the potential of women entrepreneurs could bring the world economy a profit of $13 trillion,” noted Hajiyeva.
The presidential decree on the suspension of business checks will also support the development of entrepreneurship among women, she added.
“These reforms will give impetus to the development of entrepreneurship, improving the competitiveness of the country. In addition, the support provided by the government to businesses also contributes to the growth of interest of foreign investors,” said Hajiyeva.
Entrepreneurs participating at the conference adopted an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev.
The appeal notes that, as it was defined by the president, businessmen are just the driving force in the development of non-oil sector.
“In accordance with this strategic course, the systematic work is underway in the country for further improvement of the business environment and investment, upgrade of legislation, simplification of administrative procedures and increase of state support to entrepreneurship,” the appeal said.
The participants said they regard elimination of misuse, interference with business, ensuring transparency, and decrees signed by the head of state leading to fundamental changes in the development of the private sector, as revolutionary steps taken for the development of entrepreneurship.
These decisions of great importance for the economic development of Azerbaijan inspire to work even harder, the appeal said.
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Nigar Orujova is AzerNews’s staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar
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