Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr I. Khalilova / The author of the World Bank (WB) and the International Financial Corporation's (IFC) 'Doing Business 2008' report, Semion Dyankov, will pay a visit to Baku on 8 October, the IFC's Baku representative, Aziya Azimova, reported.
"During the visit he will go over the report and will discuss with the Azerbaijani Government further steps intended to improve the rating of the country," Azimova said.
WB and IFC are ready to assist Azerbaijan in the application of international practices to improve the business climate in the country.
Consultations regarding the implementation of the Azerbaijani President's decree on arrangements intended for entrepreneurship development, issued on 30 April will be held with Dyankov. The decree envisages the introduction of a 'one window' principle (single registration body), which will allow for the implementation of all procedures in one body. As a result, the registration period of new enterprises will be cut to maximum 10-15 days, as well as the number of procedures to 6-7.
In accordance with international practice and requirements of the business climate report, the opening of a bank account and notary registration must take one day. Georgia rose from the 112th to 37th place and recently to 18th as a result of reforms in registration and other directions. Azerbaijan takes the 96th place improving its position by only three places.
There are over 70,000 entrepreneurship entities and over 200,000 individual enterprises operating in Azerbaijan.
Doing Business 2008 ranks 178 economies on the ease of doing business based on ten indicators of business regulations.