Azerbaijan, Baku, 15 Jnauary / corr Trend I.Khalilova / A presentation of a 'unified window' system for business registration was held for representatives of the diplomatic corps in Azerbaijan on 15 January. This system was applied by the Taxes Ministry from 1 January.
Fazil Mammadov, the Azerbaijani Taxes Minister stated to the presentation ceremony that the application of the new system reduces the number of procedures three times and the registration period was cut by 20 times. In the past, 15 procedures and 33 documents were required for business registration, and the registration term was 72 days. Now the registration takes three days to complete, after the registration at the Taxes Ministry and the full presentation of five necessary documents.
"The multi-step system sometimes led to bureaucratic impediments, these will be removed through the simplification of the business registration procedure," the minister said.
Following the application of advanced technology, the technical opportunities for offering available terms for doing business increased considerably. In this respect experience of many European countries has been studied and practice in the application of a 'unified window' in Latvia has been explored totally. The most advanced experience has been borrowed.
The new registration system also saves on human resources, the minister said. Earlier the registration process involved over 500 state employees, now a total of 85 employees of the Taxes Ministry carry out this work. The Ministry has received over 500 applications from entrepreneurs for registration and ten of them were issued the necessary certificate.
The minister said that the International Finance Corporation assisted the Azerbaijani Government in the application of the 'unified window' system.
According to Dina Nicolas, the IFC coordinator of projects on business assessment in CIS countries, the application of the business registration will have considerable influence on the simplification of business and it will be an important step for intensifying the beginning of small and medium size businesses, which has gained speedy development in the country. He considers it will improve the business climate of the country.
In accordance with legislation, state duties for limited organizations comprise AZN 11, foreign legal persons, representation of and branches - AZN 220.
A total of AZN4mln has been allocated out of the President's reserve fund for the establishment of the 'unified window', including AZN 1.85mln directed at the purchase of a license from ORACLE. The rest of the funds were allocated for the purchase of servers, technical equipment, necessary furniture, building of fibro-optic communication, establishment of relations with other ministries, administrations, as well as Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan in an online regime.
