Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 10
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
The Tax Forum themed "Azerbaijani tax system: Realities and Prospects" dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Taxes Ministry in Azerbaijan has kicked off in Baku.
Representatives of the Presidential Administration, Milli Majlis (Parliament of Azerbaijan), Cabinet of Ministers and other state bodies of the country, representatives of the relevant structures of the National Academy of Sciences, the World Bank, local banks, non-governmental organizations, associations of entrepreneurs and businessmen are taking part in the forum.
Speaking at the forum, Azerbaijan's Deputy Taxes Minister Sahib Alakbarov said that despite sharp decline in energy prices, Azerbaijan's GDP in 2015 grew by more than one percent, while the non-oil sector grew by 8.4 percent.
"In 2015, the country's economy received nearly $20 billion of investment, half of which are foreign ones," he said.
The deputy minister noted that the government works on the implementation of its tasks, improvement of existing business environment for entrepreneurship development, protection of the population from negative effects of the global crisis.
"In order for this strategy to be a long-lasting one, it is necessary to increase the income of the state budget, and, of course, entrepreneurs and businessmen will have to do a serious job regarding that," Alakbarov said. "They must fully comply with tax obligations in a timely manner, keep accounting well and mustn't evade taxes."
He went on to add that the president has put concrete tasks before both entrepreneurs and government bodies.
