In the Black Sea region countries should not be closed to public information

In Azerbaijan it is harder to get information, according to official inquiries, said, speaking at the Black Sea NGO Forum in Bucharest, chairman of the Center for Economic Research, PhD Gubad Ibadoglu.

According to him, the last change to Article 4 of the Law of Azerbaijan "On Commercial Secrets" involves hiding data on participants (founders) commercial entities and their shares in the authorized capital of the enterprises.

This provision is in conflict with the early version of the law "On receipt of information." However, in this paper the parliament has amended the reaction, giving officials unlimited field for the refusal in the event that it is found that the request violates the public interest in the political, economic, defense, finance, social and moral values, the judiciary, health, reproduction, and so on.

According to the economist, the country has recently joined the International Partnership Initiative of open government should not violate the principle of openness. He urged NGOs Black Sea countries that are members of the Initiative, to join the multilateral cooperation and to work on improving the business environment in the region. - 17D-