Opposition politicians criticize the speech of Prime Minister Ali Asadov

Opposition politicians criticized Ali Asadov's speech in parliament after his reappointment as Prime Minister of Azerbaijan. "Ali Asadov's speech was a repetition of Ilham Aliyev's inaugural speech. He repeated in a generalized form the theses on ensuring military security, border protection, socio-economic development, and the use of the latest technologies," said former Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Panah Huseyn.

He pointed out that in Azerbaijan, the government is headed by the president, and the prime minister is an "executive person." "In principle, the stage of primary capital accumulation has ended in Azerbaijan. Therefore, the bureaucratic-oligarchic system must be eliminated. It is necessary to eliminate the concentration of political power and economic power in one hand in order to move to a competitive economy," Huseyin said.

Authoritarianism reigns in Azerbaijan both in politics and economics, which creates problems for the development of the economy. At the same time, he believes that the government's course of transition from a supplier of hydrocarbons to a manufacturer of technologies is correct.  But for this, Azerbaijan must integrate into the global economic processes not as a raw material country. To do this, it is necessary to radically change the political management.

"If strong parliamentary control and public trust are not ensured over the economy at the new stage, then the government's declarations will remain intentions," he continued. To do this, amendments to the Constitution are necessary and property guarantees are provided.  In turn, the leader of the Popular Front Party, Ali Kerimli, pointed to the creation of a super-presidential republic in Azerbaijan.

"In addition to the fact that the Constitution gives the head of state super-powers, there is also a regime of personal power in the country. In such a situation, the priorities of economic policy are determined not by the Prime Minister, but by the president.

Ali Asadov acknowledged in his speech today that the priorities of economic development have not changed. In his opinion, in his inaugural speech, Aliyev announced an accelerated self-isolationist policy of Azerbaijan.

"He announced a confrontational policy with the EU, the United States, and the Western world as a whole. This suggests that the diversification of the Azerbaijani economy, the attraction of investments and technologies will be limited.

The second priority, he called the armament of Azerbaijan. That is, the situation of neither war nor peace will continue.  Most of the country's resources will go to militarization, and multibillion-dollar spending on the army will be a top priority in the coming years," Kerimli said.

As for the restoration of the liberated territories, oil production and exports are decreasing. Compared to 2010, oil production fell by 70%.

If the bulk of the income goes to military needs and the restoration of territories, then economic development will not become a priority, Kerimli believes.

Therefore, Asadov's statements that education, the use of new technologies, the development of the non-oil sector, and the transition to clean energy will become priorities are nothing more than beautiful words.

Today, 92.5% of the country's total exports are oil and petroleum products. Although over 20 years of production and revenues of hundreds of billions of dollars, there has been no real development of the non-oil sector.

"They have created an information technology development center, which is actually engaged in tracking the opposition on social networks.  When the authorities talk about the development of information technology, they mean the displacement of dissent. And talking about social development is not realistic at all. With such wealth in the country, the average, minimum, median salary and social benefits are lower than in neighboring countries," Kerimli said.