BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 6. Speaker of the Milli Majlis Sahiba Gafarova thoroughly informed her audience about Azerbaijan's achievements in the field of social policy in her speech at the 150th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) "Parliamentary Activities for Social Development and Justice" held in Toshkent, Trend reports.
As Speaker Sahiba Gafarova said, the approach of our government implies that a strong economic foundation allows for better implementation of social policy. As stated by President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, His Excellency, Mr Ilham Aliyev, “Our policy is centered around the people of Azerbaijan and the principles of social justice have always been important to us”.
The noteworthy achievement of this policy include significant reduction of the level of unemployment and poverty to 5.5 percent. The four social reform packages adopted in the last five years covered forty percent of population, with the minimum wage being increased two point seven times, the salary fund two point six, social benefits and pension payments five times. Our Government has harmonised national development strategies with the Sustainable Development Goals by today. The document "Azerbaijan 2030: National Priorities for Socio-Economic Development" identified the creation of a dynamic and inclusive society based on social justice as one of the five national development priorities.
The Speaker of the Milli Majlis also noted that the general framework of social development is defined by our Constitution. In line with this approach, our Parliament has adopted a number of fundamental laws covering various spheres of social development. Amending the existing legislation is also constantly in the centre of attention given that lawmaking is a dynamic and continuously evolving process