On June 14, 2016, the Round Table on the theme of “The investment climate in the country: progress and problems” was held by the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation within the framework of the USAID-funded “Micro-Enterprise Support” Project. Entrepreneurs, representatives of various companies, and public unions and experts attended the round table. Representatives of governmental bodies, entrepreneurs, independent experts, and representatives of local NGOs attended the Round Table.
Sabit Bagirov – the President of the Entrepreneurship Development Foundation greeted the participants and gave brief information on the “Micro-Enterprise Support Project”, the project activities carried out during 4 years. He said that attracting investments to the non-oil sector became an actual issue in the country, due to the reduction of oil revenues during the last 2 years.
He noted that the government has taken a number of steps to improve the business and investment climate in the country in the last year. The steps taken to increase the investment attractiveness of the country should be explored, these kinds of discussions are very important for bringing out measures especially for the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship.
Azer Mehdiyev - the chairman of the Support for Economic Initiatives Public Union made a presentation on the topic of the round table. Azer Mehdiyev noted that due to the reduction of oil revenues, a number of measures have been taken on the direction of improvement of the business climate in the country and the stimulation of investment activities.
These measures mainly cover the issues related to the reduction of the number of licenses and permits, simplification of issuance of licenses and permits, reduction of inspections of business entities, the introduction of the document "Investment promotion", as well as the promotion of non-oil exports. In his speech, he noted that improving public confidence in the banking system is a very important issue.
Speaking about the macro-economic factors of the investment climate in the country, Azer Mehdiyev stressed that devaluation of the national currency 2 times in 2015, as a result of a sharp decline in oil revenues, shaken confidence in the national currency and caused tensions in the banking sector.
The speaker noted that he researched the activities of investment institutions operating in the country, and considers that there is a need for the improvement of these institutions and the creation of new investment institutions (insurance of the small and medium business loans, export insurance, etc.)
In the end, the speaker proposed recommendations on 3 directions for the improvement of the business environment in the country. A. Mehdiyev said the implementation of the following institutional reforms is necessary without delay:
• Creation of the system of specifications and protection of property rights;
• Ensuring the independence of the judicial system (courts should be excluded from the scope of political power);
• Ensuring the equality of everyone before the law;
• Qualitative changes in Management institutions (separation of powers) and decentralization reforms;
• Elimination of the engagement of government representatives in entrepreneurial activities and introduction of income declaration;
• Deindividualization of organizations (especially political and government agencies) ie the reform of inheritance;
• Expansion the "range of view" of the government - the introduction of strategic planning;
• Activation of the institution of insolvency and bankruptcy and so on.
Then the speaker answered questions from the participants.
In the end, Sabit Bagirov stressed that the most important factor for improving the investment climate in the country is the confidence of entrepreneurs. He thanked the participants for their participation in today's round table.
