Details added (first version posted on 12:18)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 14
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Sixty inspections on entrepreneurship activity were held in Azerbaijan in 2016, said the country’s Deputy Economy Minister Sahil Babayev.
He made the remarks during a joint meeting of the Club of Exporters of the Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO) and American Chamber of Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) in Baku Feb. 14.
The meeting was attended by more than 200 entrepreneurs representing the spheres of tourism, construction, pharmaceutics, consulting, logistics, ICT, finance and others.
Babayev noted that 60,000 analogical inspections were held in 2015.
Over the last two years, the government has been continuously taking steps to improve the business environment, added the deputy minister.
For example, the number of licenses for conducting business activity decreased and reforms were carried out in the customs sphere, he explained.
Among such steps the deputy minister also highlighted the introduction of the investment promotion mechanism.
“As of today, entrepreneurs obtained relevant certificates for implementation of projects worth more than one billion manats,” said Babayev. “These projects will allow to open more than 7,000 new jobs.”
He added that the mechanism envisages various privileges for investors.
Speaking about the export expansion, the deputy minister noted that the main goal in this issue is not only the expansion of the non-oil export, but also its geography.
Meanwhile, Babayev said that the government managed to reduce export costs, reduced the time required to obtain a certificate of origin to one day.
“Moreover, we are conducting analysis of target markets, which is also important for the exporters,” he added.
Over the last three months, almost 590,000 manats were returned to entrepreneurs as part of the export promotion mechanism, noted Babayev, adding that a major part of this amount [80 percent] was obtained by wine exporters.