The Executive Director of the Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication (CAERC), Doctor of Economics, Professor Vusal Gasimli, held a press conference summarizing the institution's activities in 2024. He stated that the Center continued its primary functions of monitoring and evaluation and launched the implementation of the newly developed "Project Management" module. In addition to deepening its work in strategic planning, analysis, and research, the Center represented Azerbaijan internationally by actively collaborating with global think tank networks such as T7 and T20.

The "Azexport" and "Enterprise Azerbaijan" portals, the Digital Trade Hub, the "One Stop Shop" Export Support Center, and the Turkic World Research Center, which operate under CAERC, introduced numerous innovations in 2024.

Gasimli highlighted that CAERC is tasked with monitoring and evaluating ten strategic documents, including those of national importance: “Azerbaijan’s Socio-Economic Development Strategy for 2022–2026,” “The First State Program for the Great Return to Azerbaijan’s Liberated Territories,” and “The State Program for the Socio-Economic Development of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic for 2023–2027.” In October 2024, President Ilham Aliyev also entrusted the Center with monitoring and evaluating another significant document—“The National Strategy for the Efficient Use of Water Resources.”

Throughout the year, CAERC held approximately 150 meetings with 60 institutions as part of the management of 11 state programs and produced 28 reports based on monitoring results. The Center also developed the "Project Management" module to systematically track and assess the implementation of state programs.

According to the Executive Director, CAERC expanded its international collaboration by successfully representing Azerbaijan in global think tank platforms such as T20 and T7, affiliated with the G20 and G7, respectively. In October 2024, CAERC hosted a training program by the International Monetary Fund titled “Macroeconomic Analysis/Financial Programming and Policies,” which included participation from over 25 representatives from more than ten government agencies. In November, CAERC organized the “Global Think Tank Forum” in partnership with the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank Institute, and the CAREC Institute. Moreover, CAERC contributed to establishing the Azerbaijan Think Tanks Platform.

During 2024, the Center prepared five conceptual documents and submitted them to the government. Additionally, econometric evaluations of the non-oil fiscal deficit as a percentage of the non-oil GDP were conducted. A special English-language publication titled “Investments in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur” was issued. Research findings on green growth and the transition to green energy were published in Q1 and Q2 Scopus-indexed journals.

The Center also published several major works in 2024, including the monograph “Economic Development,” and books such as “The Middle Corridor,” “Halal Economy,” and “The Economic Potential of Islamic Countries.” The latter, a 700-page, 10-chapter book, was developed with contributions from over 70 authors, 30 Islamic countries, 10 international organizations, and 20 think tanks and universities.

Gasimli noted that one of CAERC’s innovative projects involved integrating the "Azexport" portal with platforms such as Turkey’s Trendyol, Russia’s Ozon, and Uzbekistan’s Uzum to expand Azerbaijan’s export geography. In 2024, Azexport issued 61 Certificates of Free Sale to exporters.

The "Enterprise Azerbaijan" portal, in collaboration with the University of Nevada (USA) and the German Center for Artificial Intelligence Research, implemented the region’s largest startup school initiative—“Startup School 2: AI for Green Solidarity.” Out of 121 startup applications, 41 of the best teams selected by international experts received training from mentors representing the USA, Germany, the UK, South Africa, Turkey, Russia, and Azerbaijan.

The “One Stop Shop” Export Support Center received 1,747 applications from legal and physical entities in 2024. A total of 3,982 certificates were issued, enabling exports worth $288.2 million.

In another innovative project, significant progress was made in developing the "Price Monitoring Application" in cooperation with the State Customs Committee and the State Tax Service.

The Center for Turkic World Studies, operating under CAERC, expanded its activities to contribute to the goals outlined in “Vision for the Turkic World-2040” and “The Strategy of the Organization of Turkic States for 2022–2026.” The concept document for the "Interactive Geo-Economic Map of Turkic States" was adopted during the Economic Cooperation Working Group meeting of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS). Additionally, four editions of the “Turkic Economic Bulletin” were prepared and disseminated in eight languages in collaboration with the OTS.