SME should develop

Today at Baku there was an international conference "Development of small business in Azerbaijan", which analyzed the situation on the problems of the formation of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the ways of its further development.

At the conference, presentations by experts, both local and foreign experts to assess the business climate in Azerbaijan and business support, as well as the regulation and inspection of small businesses, the Turkish experience in supporting SMEs.

The representative of the development of SMEs by Ilkin Garayev, commenting on the report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said that Azerbaijan as a whole lags behind in many respects SME policy index compared with the Eastern Partnership countries. This applies to development of a regulatory framework, bankruptcy procedures, measures to support new small businesses to exit their public procurement, state standards and technical regulations, availability of financial resources, innovation policy, etc.

Presentations about the place of the Index of Economic Freedom Azerbaijani organizations "Heritage Foundation" and "Frazer Institute" representative of the public association "Help Entrepreneurship and Market Economy" (PRPRE) Ayhan Nesibli. The studies covered the period of the second half of 2010 and H1 of 2011. They found that Azerbaijan is a middle ground in these rankings for the rule of law, limited government authority, effective regulation of the economy and business, open markets.

"Sore spot" of business in Azerbaijan have always been a test. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) conducted a survey among SMEs on the effectiveness of a single register checks the Ministry of Justice. According to the representative of the Baku office of IFC Hasan Huseynov, the intensity increased checks and illegal extortions significantly decreased. If in 2011 a businessman was checked 11 times per year, this year the figure rose to 12. In previous surveys entrepreneurs claimed that half the time they have to pay bribes, and this year of bribes were recognized 20% of the respondents anonymous. Entrepreneurs often "visit" the representatives of the Ministry of Taxes (95% of respondents), emergency response (78%), labor and social protection of the population (66%), etc.

In order to address issues facing the development of the SME a network of nongovernmental organizations in Azerbaijan started the project '"Support for small business." The project is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the President of PRPRE Sabit Bagirov, the concerns of business in Azerbaijan are monopolizing the market, administrative barriers, corruption and poor rule of law, the availability of funds and low literacy businessmen. The purpose of the project is to eliminate these problems by improving the legislation and institutional reform, establishment of a tripartite dialogue (government, NGOs and the business community) and practical assistance to SMEs. - 08C-