amcham azerbaijan annual report 2008-2009

Relations with the ParliamentIn 2009 a number of high level meetings with various bodies of Azerbaijani Parliamentincluding the Head of Secretariat of Milli Majlis Safa Mirzoyev, the Chairman of theEconomic Policy Committee Ziyad Samedzade as well as Heads of Departments ofEconomic Legislation and Information Resources Rauf Hajiyev and Rashad Azizov havebeen held. These meeting have resulted in the establishment of a close working relationshipwith the Secretariat and the economic block of Milli Majlis and extensive future plans fordevelopment and expansion of this cooperation. As a first step of AmCham-Milli Majliscooperation we have been invited to submit our comments on a number of draft lawsthat will be considered in the spring session that commenced on February 2 nd , 2010. Wedecided to start with a Competition Code that has been in the agenda of the Parliamentover a year and will be discussed in the third reading in this session. We have put togethera working group comprised of the interested members and number of leading IFI’s toreview the draft and prepare formal comments. The first meeting of the working group tookplace on February 1 st where the members were presented with the analysis of the draft.In addition to highlighting the shortcomings of the existing draft, a number of additionalprovisions based on the best practices of EU and US legislation has been discussed. Amemorandum containing the summary of the comments will be prepared and submittedto Milli Majlis within the first decade of February.Concurrently, a larger work continues with the leadership of Milli Majlis to develop an efficientand sustainable model of cooperation where draft laws both initiated at the Parliament andproposed by other bodies will be provided to AmCham as soon as they pass the first reading,giving us enough time to translate the draft, study it, form a working group if needed andsubmit our comments. We would also have an opportunity to review the draft again afterthe second and before the final third reading in case it undergoes any changes in meantime.We are very excited about these prospects of enhanced cooperation with the Parliamentaimed towards reforming Azerbaijan’s legal framework to further increase country’scompetitiveness and secure its long term development and prosperity.38