Entrepreneur: "In the absence of a competitive environment...”

Baku/25.05.21/Turan: The main problem for the development of real entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan is the lack of a competitive environment. Former MP, businessman Nazim Baidamirli said on May 25 in the Turan program "Challenging issue" titled "Is the Customs Service corrupt or is its activities in the shadow of corruption?"

The essence of the case is that the Main Anti-Corruption Department under the Prosecutor General conducted an operation in the Baku Main Customs Department on May 17. As a result, officials of the department Elmar Mirzoev, Emin Khalilov, Miraga Agayev, Jeyhun Shabanov and Aydin Eilazov were detained as suspects.

Chairman of the State Customs Committee Safar Mehdiyev says that some circles are trying to take the issue out of context and thus defame activities of the customs service creating impression that negative cases of this sort have allegedly become widespread in the customs authorities.

Speaking about committee' activities, Baidamirli insists that it is not different from other structures; however, citizens take a negative view on the matter. In his opinion, the committee is failing to carry out radical reforms due to the lack of institutional reforms.

The businessman recalls that a year and a half ago, the current chairman of the committee spoke in support of the monopoly, so he should have resigned from office at the very moment. To his thinking, to break the deadlock, it is necessary to unite the committee with the tax service and be led by a single center.

The businessman opines that one of the reasons why real entrepreneurship cannot develop in the country is incorrect organization of committee's activities. According to him, here the bureaucratic entrepreneurship is in favorable conditions. Free entrepreneurs are forced to place their goods in warehouses owned by officials while costs here are too high.—0—

Therefore, prices for imported goods are rising, and when entering the market, prices rise as well. As a consequence, the consumer spends much more money. "The lack of economic competitiveness means that import prices have increased by 27-30 percent. If the country receives more than 60 percent of imported goods, then it is not convincing to talk about a 3-4 percent rise in price within the country. In short, the committee creates conditions for price growth. The behavior of the committee in relation to the entrepreneur resembles some medieval relationship. Therefore, the committee activity does not facilitate but rather aggravates the work of entrepreneurs."

According to Baidamirli, without creating a competitive environment, in the absence of institutional reforms, it will not be possible to achieve serious success in the development of entrepreneurship in the country-05B-.