Leading international organizations offer Azerbaijan to become an international center for various activities.
The Azerbaijani Tax Ministry and the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to develop cooperation in combating corruption. The memorandum was signed within the "Combating Corruption in Azerbaijan" conference held in Shamakhi last week. The memorandum was signed by Tax Minister Fazil Mammadov and IACA delegation head Martin Kreutner.
The minister said the signing of the memorandum will be a new stage in the study of international experience in combating corruption. "This cooperation will stimulate activity in Azerbaijan," Mammadov said.
Preventive measures play a significant role in preventing corruption, the head of International Anti Corruption Academy (IACA) delegation Martin Kreutner said. "The increase in effectiveness of the NGOs and public activities is important in combating corruption", he added. Kreutner stressed the importance of holding such a conference in Azerbaijan and spoke about the international anti-corruption movement. "Corruption hinders the development of society, creates serious socio-economic, moral and legal issues, as well as citizens' mistrust to the state bodies", he added.
The UN representative proposes creating an international center to fight corruption in Azerbaijan. "It would be reasonable to create an international center in Azerbaijan in this sphere, to which leading experts will be involved,"UN Resident Coordinator in Azerbaijan Fikret Akcura said.
Cooperation with civil society is one of the main guidelines in fighting corruption in Azerbaijan, Head of the Anti-corruption Department of Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan Kamran Aliyev said. "To strengthen cooperation with the population in this direction, the department created "hot line", which received over 3,000 calls in 2011," he said.
Twenty-seven criminal cases were filed against persons who abused their official powers and 17 operational events were conducted, he added. "There are verdicts on some of these cases," Aliyev added.
International experience shows that these measures should be carried out not by one agency, but by all law enforcement agencies in the system order, he said.