The CESD concerned over Azeri
budget’s ‘reliance on oil revenues’
$ 12,1 billion will be transferred from
the Oil Fund to State Budget only in
2011
The amendments and addenda introduced
to Azerbaijan’s 2011 budget will
increase the reliance of the country’s
main financial document on oil revenues
the Center for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) announced.
Center for Economic and Social
Dveelopment (CESD) with management of
Management Center (Cyprus) and with
support from European Commission held 2
days the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
workshop in Baku, Azerbaijan on May
20th-21st, 2011 with participation of 30
Civil Society Organizations
representatives.
CESD International Civil
Society Forum Held in Baku
Center
for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) with support
of European Commission and
Management Center of Cyprus held
International Civil Society
Forum in Baku, Azerbaijan on May
19th, 2011 with participation of
representatives of civil society
institutes, state agencies,
international community,
embassies, mass-media and
academia.
After CESD Recommendations the
Government ofAzerbaijandecided
to make amendments to 2011 State Budget
Government of Azerbaijan (GoA)
announced that amendments to 2011 State
Budget will be made the mid of May,
2011. Center for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) declared on March 26,
2011 that amendments on State Budget
should be made and the center sorted out
impacts of such amendments (for more
information about CESD Declaration in
Azeri, please visit(
http://www.cesd.az/m216.htm).More...
CESD included in Harvard
University Directory
The prestigious US university,
Harvard University, has added
the Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD) into
its official think tank
directory. TheJohn
F. Kennedy School of GovernmentatHarvard
Universityhas
released information about it. Moreover,
the name of CESD has been posted
on the university website:
Monitoring of Construction of
Central Asia’s major railway project involving
Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey
The
Center for Economic and Social
Development (CESD), with the support of
Partnership for Transperancy Fund (PTF)
has begun monitoring the costs of the
Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway project which
is financed by the State Oil Fund.
According to the report of CESD the
project will last for 14 months and the
goal of it is to increase the impact of
oil revenues on the Azerbaijan economy
and to find ways to use them
effectively. More...
Azerbaijan Economy in the
first quarter of 2011; Comparative Analysis
Center for
Economic and Social Development (CESD),leading
economic think tank in Azerbaijan,
developed main economic-figures of the
first quarter of 2011. According to the
State Statistic Committee of Azerbaijan
Republic, overall the country’s economy
has risen by 1.6 % since CESD estimation
is 0,4 %. The non-oil sector has risen
by 5.6 % and for the CESD calculation is
3,4 %; industrial production has risen
by 0.3 percent, the center did observe
any growth in this direction. Download
the whole here.
Trading Places in the Eastern
Partnership
PASOS/LGI seminar on Trading Places in
the Eastern Partnership: Economic
integration and trade liberalization in
EU relations withMoldova, Georgia,
and Azerbaijan," was held on April 12 in
Brussels. 3 expert groups from
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova had EU
integration papers’ presentations in the
seminar. More...
CESD Paper to be Presented inBrussels
Trade experts
representing PASOS think-tanks will
present three new policy briefs at "Trading
Placesin
the Eastern Partnership:Economic
integrationandtrade
liberalizationin
EU relations withMoldova,
Georgia, andAzerbaijan,"
on April 12 seminar to be held in
Brussels.
CESD Anti-Corruption
Strategy for the Republic of Azerbaijan
In the interest of fighting against
corruption in an effective and enduring
way, the implementation of comprehensive
measures is extremely important. As
such, the package of anti-corruption
measures prepared by the Center for
Economic and Social Development (CESD)
has been developed to strengthen the
fight against corruption and bribery and
to achieve long-lasting results.Download
CESD New Policy Paper
Managing Resource Revenues in Oil-Rich
CAREC Countries: The Case of Azerbaijan
The high inflow of oil revenues to
Azerbaijan in recent years has led to
large and unsustainable increases
in government expenditures in the state
budget and State Oil Fund of the
Azerbaijan Republic. Given that oil
revenues are exhaustible, volatile, and
unpredictable, a sustainable fiscal
policy must be enabled that allows
for intergenerational equity,
diversification in the economy, and
predictable annual revenues that reduce
pressures of appreciation. This paper
aims to describe the recent and current
management of oil revenues in
Azerbaijan, provide a summary of
international practices of natural
resource management, and to make policy
recommendations for future management of
oil revenues. Recommendations include
isolating oil money from the Azerbaijan
economy, collecting it in the State Oil
Fund, using permanent income hypothesis
to employ a smooth distribution
function, and other investment
considerations.
Download the full paper.
Policy
Analysis in Azerbaijan
This assessment seeks to describe the
present situation of policy analysis in
Azerbaijan. The methodology used by the
author has been desk
research and more importantly,
semi-structured face-to-face interviews
with representatives of policy
research institutions, international
development agencies, independent
policy analysts, and university
lecturers in Azerbaijan.
Center for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) under management of
Management Center, Cyprus and with
funding from European Commission held
Advocacy and Campaigning in Civil
Society Workshop in Azerbaijani
Districts from March 22-25, 2011.
Representatives from Regional Civil
Society Organizations attended the
workshop. More...
Azerbaijan Starts Visa
Liberalization
After CESD’s Recommendations on
Visa Facilitation the Government
of Azerbaijan is planning to
apply new mechanisms in visa
sphere
The Center
for Economic and Social
Development (CESD), Azerbaijan
has recently presented “Visa
Facilitation” Paper (the whole
paper is available at
http://novisa.az/en/publications)
which was part
of “Paving the Road towards
Visa-free Travel between the
Eastern Partnership countries
and
the EU”, More...
CESD Anti-Corruption
Strategy Submitted to the Parliament
Anti-Corruption
Strategy for Azerbaijan Republic
produced by Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD) was submitted
to the Parliament of Azerbaijan on
March, 17, 2011. According to the Azerbaijani Parliament,
draft law will be put in the Parliament
Agenda next week. It is noted that some
policy recommendations listed in the
strategy have been recently approved by
the Government. For instance, Azerbaijani
President signed the decree on simplify
procedures and increase transparency in
customs sphere. The recommendation was
presented by Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD) on February,
23, 2011. According to the decree, the
State Customs Committee, Interior
Ministry and Ministry of Justice were
instructed to, within three months,
ensure the simplification of procedures
related to customs registration,
carrying out state registration, taking
a permanent record of vehicles imported
into the territory of the Republic,
providing certificate of state
registration and state registration
number of the vehicles and granting rights
to own, use and acquire vehicles based
on the principle of “single window”.English
version of the strategy paper will be
available, very soon.
Advocacy Workshop held in
Baku
Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD)
under management of
Management Center, Cyprus and
with funding from European
Commission held
Advocacy and Campaigning in Civil
Society Workshop on
March 09-11, 2011.
Representatives from all
leading Civil
Society Organizations attended
the workshop.
CESD Presented New Policy
Paper on Visa Facilitation
Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD)
presented new policy paper
on visa facilitation
between European
Union and Azerbaijan.
The paper reviews the
current relations between
Azerbaijan and the EU and
the compliance of Azerbaijan
to its international
obligations and commitments,
particularly in terms of the
visa facilitation process,
document security, and the
border management policy of
Azerbaijan. The research was
supported by PASOS with
funding of Local Government
and Public
Service Reform Initiative of
the Open
Society Foundations.
President of Azerbaijan signed
decree on simplify
procedures and increase
transparency in customs
sphere
Center
for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) held
National Anti-Conference
in Baku, Azerbaijan with
participation of
representatives from
different government
agencies,international
organizations, think
tanks, mass-media institutes
and MPs on February, 23,
2011. More
CESD National Anti-Corruption Conference
.Center
for Economic and Social
Development (CESD) held
National Anti-Conference
in Baku, Azerbaijan with
participation of
representatives from
different government
agencies,international
organizations, think
tanks, mass-media institutes
and MPs on February, 23,
2011.
Vugar Bayramov, chairman of
CESD, presented CESD Policy
Recommendations on
Anti-corruption Initiatives.
.
Center for Economic and
Social Development (CESD)
under
management Cyprus Management
Center held Communication
and Outreach Workshop to
train national civil society
organizations managers in
February 18-19, 2011. The
workshop was held with
funding from European
Commission.
Central Bank Accepted CESD Recommendations on
E-Mortgage
.
Azerbaijan's Central Bank
has drafted a project to
introduce electronic
mortgages as part of its
work to make the mortgage
system more convenient which
recommended by Center for
Economic and Social
Development (CESD) in 2010.
More
CESD recommends Structural Reforms in Azerbaijan
.
Center for
Economic and Social
Development (CESD)
recommends new structural
reforms in Azerbaijan in
order to fight corruption.
CESD experts mentions that
in order to achieve
efficiency in governance and
to effectively fight against
corruption and bureaucratic
impediments, some government
institutions should be
merged and some of them must
be given independent status.
“Structural reforms should
cover different areas of
economic management.”
More
EU EaP CSF
Steering Committee Meeting held in Brussels
EU Eastern Partnership Civil
Society Forum
Steering Committee meeting
held in Brussels on February
01-03, 2011. Vugar Bayramov,
the chairman of CESD,
National Coordinator EaP CSF
in Azerbaijan attended the
steering committee meeting,
too. Vugar Bayramov
mentioned that the platform
was set up, originally 80
organisations, issue of
admission criteria and
statute – full and
associated members of the
platform. Working groups on
thematic platforms; Action
plan for 2011 – Baku
Conference on ENP in May
2011 is to be organised
(fundraising). Now the
National Platform has 40
full members, 25 associated
members. He mentioned that
conditionality between ENP
meeting and providing visa
for all EU citizens should
be put in place. Regarding
to the issue of South
Caucasus platform –
premature, he mentioned that
no negotiations running but
the idea is important and
will be reconsidered once
the national platforms are
shored up.
Tariff increase
to affect consumer market
The Chairman of the
Center for Economic and
Development (CESD), Vugar
Bayramov said the State Tariff Council's
decision to increase the
tariffs of water, sewerage,
post services and railway
communication is
unreasonable and will
negatively affect the
consumer market. Bayramov
said tariffs like this are
unprecedented worldwide and
will impede the country's
development and the
businesses in particular.
The expert said the Tariff
Council had to inquire into
the social
impact of the tariff
increase before doing that.
Inflation
could be contained at single digits
in Azerbaijan in 2011 even if price
hikes in world markets announced
Azerbaijani Government; "The increase is
predicted to range around 5,7 % under
the 2011 budgetary package," More
Policy
Recommendations on Tax System of Azerbaijan
Center for
Economic and
Social
Development (CESD)
has developed
policy
recommendations
on improving tax
system in
Azerbaijan. Download
the paper
Economic Growth Forecasting
in Europe and Central Asia in 2011/2012
The European
Bank
for Reconstruction and
Development estimates
for overall
growth in 2010
remains at
around 4.2 per
cent for the
region, with
upward revisions
in most
countries but
downward
revisions
in Russia, Slovenia, Mongolia,
and
Turkmenistan.More
CESD ranked as
one of the top think tanks in the world
TheUniversity
of Pennsylvaniaannounced
its Global
"Go-To Think
Tanks" rankings
for 2010
The University
of Pennsylvania's
(UPenn) Think
Tanks and Civil
Societies
Program
announced
rankings of the
leading public
policy
research organizations
in the world in
their annual
Global "Go-To
Think Tanks"
report. The
presentation of
the report took
place at the
United Nations
Headquarters in
New York. More
According to
government
sources, last
year Azerbaijan
economy was
noticeable for
its decreasing
trends of
crisis. However,
the amount o
international
debts has
increased, after
2008-2009 of
deflation, there
was significant
increase in
inflation rate.
More
Center for
Economic and
Social
Development (CESD),
Azerbaijan held
Annual
Conference in
Baku, Azerbaijan
on December 29,
2010 with
participation of
representatives
from government
institutes,
Azeri
Parliament,
Civil Society
organizations,
European
Commission, USA
Embassy, Swiss
Embassy,
Lithuanian
Embassy, USAID,
Counterpart
International,
academies,
universities and
other local and
international
donors.
More
CESD held Oil
Transparency
Conference in
Baku on
December, 14,
2010 with
participation of
various
stakeholders.
The Center for
Economic and
Social
Development (CESD),
with support
from the US
Embassy in
Azerbaijan, is
carrying out the
monitoring of
tenders that are
financed by oil
revenues.
More
Contract Signed with inactive company in
Oguz-Gabala-Baku water pipeline's construction
Leyla Aliyeva, Project
manager at the
Center for
Economic and
Social
Development (CESD), said
that during the
monitoring done
with support
from the US
Embassy
in Azerbaijan,
it was
discovered that
while selecting
bidders, the
authorities
have, in most
cases, not
followed the
demands of the
"Law on State
Procurement."
More
New Single Rules on Insurance System Approved
Government of Azerbaijan approved
the single rules
on the goodwill
insurance of
cars which will
be applied
beginning from
January, 01,
2010. Those
recommendations
early prepared
and submitted by
Center for
Economic and
Social
Development (CESD),
leading economic
think tank in
Azerbaijan.
More
“The role of
civil society and mass media in the
Azerbaijan-EU relations
The
conference
entitled “The
role of civil
society and mass
media in the
Azerbaijan-EU
relations”
within the
3rd South
Caucasus Security
Forum hosted in
Baku.
According to APA,
Eastern
Partnership Civil
Society Forum’s
national
coordinator for
Azerbaijan Vugar
Bayramov
informed the
participants
about the four
multilateral
thematic
platforms, which
are democracy,
good management
and
stability; economic
integration and
rapprochement
with the EU
policy; energy
security and
human relations.
More
CESD Chairman Selected for Steering Committee of
EaP Civil Society Forum
Vugar Bayramov,
the chairman of
Center for
Economic and
Social
Development, was
selected for
Steering
Committee of EU
Eastern
Partnership (EaP)
Civil Society
Forum on
November, 20,
2010 in Berlin,
Germany. Dr.
Bayramov will
also serve as
the national
coordinator
for Azerbaijan in
EaP Civil
Society Forum.
More
CESD
is the only think tank from the Caucasus and Central
Asia included
in the top think tanks rankings.
Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) was established for
the purpose of promoting research into contemporary economic and social
problems in 2005.
CESD prepared anti-crisis concept for
Azerbaijan Republic. Project of Center for Economic and Social Development
includes proposed action plans on each economic sector
Shirin Mirzeyev 76 "a"/ 33, Baku Az1002, Azerbaijan
Civil Society Movie Nights
COMING SOON...
ToT photos
Policy Paper on Oil and Transparency
The economic life of Azerbaijan is closely tied to oil.
This study claims that the advantage of possessing oil
can quickly be spoiled if the resources are merely spent
to satisfy short-term interests. However, if managed
wisely, e.g. through proper defining and prioritizing
the long-term interests of the entire society owning the
resources, having oil can be extremely beneficial.
On 17 October, Economics Club of the Free
Thought University gathered in their first
seminar. Guest of the seminar was CESD Chairman,
well-known economist Vugar Bayramov.
On 14 November, Economics club of the Free
Thought University held their another meeting.
The topic was about state investments and the
guest – CESD Board Member, prominent economist
Elchin Rashidov.
