RESULTS OF MONITORING ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS TO PUBLIC AGENCIES REVEALED

Transparency Azerbaijan, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), presented the report on results of monitoring of the implementation of recommendations provided by Transparency Azerbaijan to public agencies. Recommendations package covers the monitoring period May 2015 – May 2016 and evaluates implementation of recommendations submitted separately at the roundtables, as well as through other channels to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Justice, State Registry of Real Estate, Azerigas PU, Azersu OSJ and Azerishiq OSJ, as well as other agencies.

In her opening speech, Rena Safaraliyeva, Executive Director of Transparency Azerbaijan, stated that a number of institutional reforms and new electronic services have been introduced in the last one year. However, several shortcomings with regards to ensuring transparency and accountability still remain.

The report prepared by TI Az team summarizes implementation of the recommendations in the areas of labour and social protection of people, registration of real estate and taxation on its sale, notary services, utilities, as well as some other fields. All recommendations provided by TA can be divided broadly into several major directions:

• Enhancement of the legal framework;
• Attending to institutional vulnerabilities, including management of hotlines;
• Provision of electronic services and organization of website;
• Ensuring transparency and accountability of public institutions.

Presenting the findings of the monitoring, Zumrud Ismayilova, grants manager at Transparency Azerbaijan, noted that due to devaluation of Azerbaijani manat and increase of prices, existing problems in the field of social protection of population deepened. She added that recommendations in the sphere of utilities were poorly implemented and problems were especially reflected in customer-supplier relationship. It was recommended to privatize Azerigas PU, Azersu OSJ and Azerishiq OSJ companies to improve their services and establish several companies in each sector to create competition.

Ayten Alizamanli, junior lawyer at Transparency Azerbaijan, spoke about the problems in registration of apartment buildings and private houses, and actions undertaken in accordance with TA recommendations. She stressed that while the pace of registry of undocumented houses has sped up; hundreds of thousands of places of residence remained unregistered due to lack of strategic approach to this problem.

Later, Mahammad Muradov, project coordinator at Transparency Azerbaijan, highlighted the efficient notary offices according to the observations at notary publics and noted that the private offices ensure better services than their public counterparts.

In the continuation of the event discussions were held with participation of the representatives from state agencies mentioned in the report and the civil society members.

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