THE LINK

Business forums, "round tables", investment conferences, business meetings… The National Confederation of Entrepreneurs' (employers') Organisations of Azerbaijan (NCEOA) numbers hundreds of events like these, draft laws, contracts and a lot more work done, among its assets. Each item of work results in a specific outcome. As noted at the confederation itself, the 15-year-long development of this structure is directly proportional to the development of the country's economy development, especially in the private sector.

"Initially the economic policy of the independent Azerbaijan drew support from the development and consolidation of the private sector, the creation of a broad stratum of entrepreneurs and business communities in all sectors. It is no accident that the first state programmes linked to the development of entrepreneurship, were implemented back in 1993-1995 and 1997-2000 on the initiative of the nation's leader, Heydar Aliyev. He himself repeatedly had meetings with local and foreign businessmen, took an interest in their problems and undertook measures to resolve them. A number of important decrees and instructions were signed as a result of meetings like these in 2002, which laid the foundation for a new stage in the development of entrepreneurship in the country," the confederation's president, Mammad Musayev, says.

He said that the conditions for developing business had been further freed up under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev. In 2003, a mechanism for providing state financial aid to business was set in motion. The National Confede-ration chief thinks that the state programmes for the development of the regions have acted as a strong spur to boosting a total volume of investments of as much as 28bn dollars, including 17.5bn dollars in internal investments, 10.5bn dollars in foreign investments in 2013 year. "Thus, the chosen economic strategy has played an exceptionally positive part not only in the development of Azerbaijan, but also in defining the individual model for countries with a transitional economy," M. Musayev stressed.

As far as the Confederation of Entrepreneurs Organisations' involvement in these achievements is concerned, the last 15 years have shown that it has essentially rendered weighty support to the government in implementing these important reforms.

Having begun its activity in 1999 as an association, after expanding its status to that of a confederation, over the last few years this structure, which has implemented an extensive plan of measures to support and aid entrepreneurship, it has become a public association representing the interests of business people on a republican scale. Today it is made up of thousands of entrepreneurial entities, including 70 associations and unions.

Since 2001 the Confederation has been concluding a general collective agreement with the country's Cabinet of Ministers and the Trade Union Federation of Azerbaijan, which defines the agreed positions and joint activity regarding socio-economic policy and social and labour relations. Mammad Musayev said that, as a party to this agreement, the National Confederation is paying particular attention to issues of social dialogue.

We are not satisfied with just the support of entrepreneurs, but, within the framework of co-operation with the appropriate state structures and trades unions, we are striving to actively become involved in regulating labour issues. At the present time, work is on-going within the framework of the country-related International Labour Organi-sation programme.

- How is the work of the Confederation organised, to what extent does it envelope the activity of entrepreneurs throughout the country?

- Standing commissions specialising in working with business entities in various sectors of the economy are operating under the Confederation. We also have regional branches, which envelope all the districts in the country; this essentially facilitates the work involved in supporting the private sector in the provinces; it allows the trends requiring greater, more fixed attention and support to be determined. 

Every year the Confederation conducts discussions with entrepreneurs on tax legislation and, after gathering together all the comments and suggestions, submits them to the Ministry of Taxes. Within the framework of the agreement on collaboration with the given department, moreover, work with entrepreneurs has been improved at tax offices, and now Confederation staff are working at 40 of them.  

- At what level is the Confede-ration's international co-operation arranged?

- Today our Confederation is a member of many sister international organisations and is successfully taking part in joint projects, business forums, conferences and other events with partners from different countries. Thus, we completed the three-year-long "Collabora-tion in the sphere of social dialogue" project recently, which was implemented with German partners, and have managed to extend it for another three years.

Besides this, international forums involving mutual contacts with the government and business organised by and with the participation of the Confederation are being conducted, insurance legislation is being applied and management training given. The first national exhibition of Azerbaijan has been organised in Uzbekistan. The Confederation represents the private sector at the business council of the Co-operation Council of Turkic-speaking States. 

The Confederation has also signed an agreement on co-operation in corporative responsibility with the UN's Baku office and has held an international conference on female business activity with the State Committee for Family, Women and Children Affairs, and arranged other activities.

On the whole, in 2013 alone, more than 70 business forums, "round-tables", exhibitions and bilateral meetings were organised through the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and through confederations. As many as 1,200 different events attended by more than 100,000 entrepreneurs have been held in the republic's regions with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development.

In keeping with the instructions of President Ilham Aliyev, the Confederation's president, Mammad Musayev, has become a member of the national action group working on the "Azerbaijan 2020: looking to the future" development concept. This document is known to have been reflected in plans to improve the business climate in the country, further boost the competitiveness of the economy and to improve the legislation offering protection to the interests of investors. Within this framework, the Confederation intends to continue work aimed at adopting a law "On employers' associations", improving the tax system, reducing the tax burden, improving the business climate for small and medium-sized business, making the output of local businesses more competitive, and so forth. Naturally, the confederation is continuing to assist Azerbaijani entrepreneurs in marketing their products abroad and getting business contacts going.