The text of the strategic road maps is changes at the request of officials, mainly after the presidential approval

At the end of last year, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree approving the "Strategic road maps of the national economy and the main sectors of the economy."  Were approved the maps: a perspective on the national economy of Azerbaijan; for the development of the oil and gas industry (including chemical products); production and processing of agricultural products; consumer products at the level of small and medium-sized enterprises; on the development of heavy industry and mechanical engineering; on the development of specialized tourism industry; for the development of logistics and trade; for the development of housing at affordable prices; for the development of vocational education and training; for the development of financial services; for the development of telecommunications and information technology; for the development of public utilities (electric and thermal energy, gas and water).

Long an weighty titles of these cards (some names we have shortened) look impressive, unwittingly causing the respect and confidence of their compulsory execution. But somehow, numerous titles of strategic roadmaps  are only published, no more. The content and the actual content of cards remain unknown. The texts have been published  gradually not in the official press, but in electronic form on the website of the state news agency "APA". Why was not  the contents of these documents  disclosed once before?

"Only 11 strategic roadmaps were published. The strategic road map for the development of the oil and gas industry (including chemical products) of Azerbaijan has not yet been presented to the public," said lawyer Akram Hasanov in an interview with Radio Azadlyg. "The fact that strategy maps are published gradually and only in electronic form is very surprising and contrary to the rules of publication of official documents. They are not a legal document, but only the state program. Therefore, there is not a direct impact of these cards on the lives of citizens. I think that changes are made in the maps, editing, and when they are ready  they are published on  the site.

However, it is not the main question. Why are the  maps published in the electronic form? After all,  it is allowed to make changes in the electronic document.  This is happened. While the  publication of maps I downloaded them  on computer. Then, re-loading the maps, I noticed a change in the four maps - the number of pages has changed. In the original version of the strategic road map for the development of financial services in Azerbaijan  there were  60 pages,  and now  there are 59 pages; The strategic road map for the development of specialized tourism industry in Azerbaijan in the beginning consisted of 100 pages, and  now  there are  98 pages; The strategic road map for the development of heavy industry and engineering in Azerbaijan consisted of 51 pages, now there are 50 pages; the strategic road map for the development of public utilities (electric and thermal energy, gas and water), in Azerbaijan comprised 103 pages, the current version consists of 106 pages. Thus, in at least four strategic roadmap has been amended. Now I cannot say what changes have been made - the volume is very large, approximately 1000 pages. It is possible that other roadmaps were also modified, but it is not noticeable, as the number of pages has not changed.

Changes to the content of the document approved by the president, and after their publication is unacceptable. It turns out that the document  submitted for the approval was not fully ready. It is no coincidence that 50 days have passed  since the date of the  approval of the roadmaps, and one has not yet been published. So,  is not it ready yet? Then how was it  approved?

It is obvious that the officials have not coped with their work, putting the president in a bad position. The fact that  in March last year the president  gave the order to prepare  12 road maps  within  six months. Officials to whom it was entrusted, failed to perform quality work in a committed period. They presented the work that they managed to do, and it is clear that the president's schedule is so tight that he could not read everything that is written there. I assume that the president signed only a decree, and requested to publish the road map. However, these cards are far from perfect, their level of  their preparation is very low, and now changes are being made in them.

There is another possible explanation of what is happening. We know that there is not a united team in the power. Naturally, all government agencies are subject to the president, but  there is not close cooperation between  them. I suppose that the card content has caused conflict between the state structures, so for a long time the map is not published, then  began to  publish them gradually, and then change the content. All strategic road maps should be printed in the newspaper, otherwise each time the electronic version will be amended. "

"If the strategic road points have items concerning the interests of some ministry or other structure, and even the personal interests of the official, the persons then request to change these items, which might interfere with their work," said Radio Azadlyg the expert economist Natig Jafarli . "However, if the document was approved by the president, the changes must also be approved by him.  The fact that the strategic roadmap for the development of the oil and gas industry (including chemicals) has not been published yet  may indicate that the recent statements of the authorities about the  coming  post-oil period does not coincide with the content of the roadmap. Maybe this road map is based on the proposition that the oil will remain for many years the locomotive of Azerbaijan's economy? Therefore,  they do not want to publish it," suggested the expert.—0--