Azernews.Az

By Aynur Karimova

Azerbaijan's Economy and Industry Ministry has offered to abolish licensing for the mounting, processing and sale of non-ferrous metals, as well as industrial and commercial waste, which is composed of precious metals and stones.

Such a decision was taken during an expanded board meeting of the ministry in accordance with President Ilham Aliyev’s instructions, which were given at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on October 12, dedicated to the results of socio-economic development in the first nine months of 2015 and objectives for the future, the ministry told Trend on October 16.

It was also decided to revise and reduce the list of activities that require a license. Currently, 103 activities in 59 areas require licensing in Azerbaijan.

President Aliyev, who chaired the October 12 meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, said in his speech that despite Azerbaijan's significant achievements in recent years, the government should not strike the global crisis from the agenda, but should take necessary measures toward countering the crises.

As the president mentioned, financial discipline should be strengthened and the public should be educated to avoid social risks, including excessive borrowing and subsequent defaults.

Reminding his staff of the necessity to suspend the allocation of funds for projects that are not a priority, reviewing the structure of budgetary spending, and explaining the need to frugally spend budgetary funds, the president noted the need to further strengthen the fight against corruption to continue systemic reforms and to expand the activity of the ASAN Service.

He also spoke about the importance of strengthening public involvement in the fight against corruption and bribery. The president said that in order to ensure the sustainable development of the country, it is necessary to focus further attention on the development of entrepreneurship. Foreign investments should be, most of all, directed to the non-oil sector, the business climate should be improved, mechanisms should be developed to regulate inspections and the number of inspections and licenses should be significantly reduced.

Stable, fast and efficient development is impossible without solving current problems. As the president noted, there is also a need to decrease the monopolization of the market in Azerbaijan. Although the government has been working to cease monopolization for some time and achieved particularly effective results in the consumer market, work still needs to be done to cover the many areas.

The head of state said the fight against monopolies is important and necessary to ensure competition for all.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz