Trend Information Agency has prepared an article entitled "Economic reforms: Analysis, management, monitoring, evaluation and communication".
The article fully reflects the activities of the CAERC in all areas:

The Center for Analysis of Economic Reform and Communications (CAERC), whose main mission is to expand the scope of economic reforms implemented in our country and effectively coordinate work in this area, was established by the Decree of the head of state Ilham Aliyev dated April 20, 2016. Since its inception, CAERC, which has been trying to contribute to economic reforms in the direction of building a competitive social market model, is successfully continuing its activities as a public legal entity today.

Formed as a continuation of the reforms carried out in the direction of improving the welfare of citizens in our country under the leadership of the head of state, the IITKM has contributed to the preparation of up to 50 strategies, programs, action plans, concepts, strategic road maps, technical and economic justifications and other documents during its operation, as well as the reintegration of Karabakh. participated in the process of economic justification necessary for and supported the formation of the reform agenda. In order to increase the analysis capabilities of the center, financial programming, general equilibrium, expenditure-output, RATIO, microsimulation, External Sector Evaluation (EBA-lite) were developed in the economic analysis laboratory "EconLAB" with the support of the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank, the European Union and SECO. ) models have been created.

In general, the 2022 activity of CAERC, which is an important component of the flexible strategic management system created in Azerbaijan, in the fields of preparation, adoption, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and communication of economic reforms can be considered successful.

CAERC is currently working on the "State Program for ensuring food safety in the Republic of Azerbaijan for the years 2019-2025", "Employment Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the years 2019-2030" and "On the geological study of the subsoil and the efficient use of the mineral raw material base 2020-2024 carries out monitoring and evaluation of the State Program for the years At the same time, monitoring and evaluation of the "Socio-economic Development Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2022-2026" and the "I State Program on the Great Return" are also carried out by the IITKM based on the order of the Cabinet of Ministers. According to the relevant Decree of President Ilham Aliyev "On the approval of strategic road maps for the national economy and the main sectors of the economy", a total of 60 monitoring and evaluation reports were prepared for 12 Strategic Road Maps for 2017-2020.

Based on the "2018-2020 State Program for the Expansion of Digital Payments in the Republic of Azerbaijan", 5 monitoring and evaluation reports have been prepared. Including 5 of the "Measure Plan for 2019-2020 on reducing the negative impact of plastic packaging waste on the environment in the Republic of Azerbaijan", 3 of the "State Program on ensuring food safety in the Republic of Azerbaijan for 2019-2025", " 2 monitoring and evaluation reports on the Employment Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the years 2019-2030 and 3 monitoring and evaluation reports on the "State Program for the years 2020-2024 on the geological study of the subsoil and efficient use of the mineral raw material base" have been prepared.

It is clear from the reports of CAERC that the Center prepared and presented a total of 78 reports on monitoring and evaluation of the state of implementation of strategies, state programs, measures and tasks.

CAERC will monitor and evaluate the implementation of the measures envisaged in the "Socio-economic Development Strategy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2022-2026" and the "I State Program on the Great Return to Territories Freed from Occupation of the Republic of Azerbaijan".

Azranking.az - CAERC actively participates in improving Azerbaijan's position in international rankings

The Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms and Communication  is closely involved in the activities of the Commission on Business Environment and International Ratings. Periodic monitoring of international ratings, reports and indices is carried out by the Center, communication of the country's achievements is provided based on the analysis of the quarterly or annual economic reports of well-known rating agencies, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.

At the same time, CAERC has become a platform where the working groups of the Commission on International Business and Ratings hold regular discussions in Azerbaijan. Considering that more than 50 public and private sector institutions are represented in the commission, as well as more than 300 representatives representing these institutions, we can see that the Center is a successful HUB in the field of monitoring, evaluation and coordination.

In 2022 alone, 77 meetings of 23 working groups of the Azerbaijan Business Environment and International Ratings Commission were held on the Azranking.az platform operated by IITKM. The working groups adopted 15 roadmaps for the implementation of improvement on the indicators of the World Bank Group's "Enabled Business Environment" project. The activity of the Azranking.az platform is based on the principles of public participation, open government, flexible and convenient management.

Flexible communication of economic reforms

The fact that changes in the modern world happen at the speed of light makes communication activities even more necessary, and in our country, IITKM performs a flexible communication function in the economic sphere. In other words, economic communication policy is also one of the main directions of activity of IITKM. In order to inform the public about the economic policy and reform measures, both in the mass media and at various local and foreign events, the employees of the IITKM make regular speeches, various reviews and magazines are printed, the main purpose of which is to promote the results of the economic policy of the state, the implementation of the society informing about socio-economic policy. For this purpose, only in 2022, 213 press releases (news) were published through mass media, social network pages and on the official website, including 12 issues of "Export Review" in 2022, 10 issues of "Reform Review", 1 issue of "Video Review", 3 issues of "Turkish Economic Review", 3 issues of "Economic Reforms" magazine and 45 issues of "Weekly Review" were published and published in electronic and paper formats respectively. It should also be noted that while most publications are in Azerbaijani and English, "Turkic Economic Outlook" is published in 8 languages, distributed to the countries included in the Organization of Turkic States.

By the way, these days "Turkic Economic Outlook" was highly appreciated by the Secretary General of the Organization of Turkic States, and the activity of CAERC was shown as an example to other Turkish states, which can be considered as the first important success of 2023.

The results of researches on various topics at CAERC are also published in the form of books, which are met with great interest by the public. For example, in 2022, the monographs "Green Economy" and "New Karabakh Letter" were published as a result of the researches carried out at the CAERC. Presentations of both books were held in various higher educational institutions and state institutions, and the books were met with great interest as a rich and valuable source in relevant fields.

The group of authors, represented by the employees of the Center, are working on the books "Economy of Turkish States", "Islamic Financial System and its Prospects in Azerbaijan", "Economic Growth - Innovation and Startups".

Brain Center that applies a conceptual approach arising from modern challenges

In the activity of the center, the promotion of the results of the economic policy implemented by the state in the society, analysis and research in the financial programming model at the macro and microeconomic level and other econometric models have a special place. Every year, large-scale research is conducted in the mentioned directions, the results of which are communicated to the society through television, mass media, and social network pages. This year, for the first time, the territorial elevation model of Armenia was established based on the data of the geographic information system, and the importance of the Zangezur corridor was scientifically substantiated. Also, the post-conflict construction in Karabakh and Eastern Zangezur was scientifically analyzed based on the cluster approach.

The current situation in the country regarding the circular economy in Azerbaijan, its importance and future prospects was examined. The results were presented at the "Circular Economy" week, jointly organized by the Brandenburg University of Technology and the Institute of Material Flow Management in Germany.

By using the gravity model, the important factors affecting the trade relations of the Turkish states were identified and potential opportunities for cooperation in this field were investigated. In addition, network analysis of foreign direct investments among Turkish states was conducted using graph theory.

Using the general equilibrium model, the dynamic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the tourism sector and the economy were investigated, and the scientific and practical results of the study were presented at an international conference held in France.

In addition, using the time series econometrics method, the effects of the development of the oil sector on the participation of women in the labor market in Azerbaijan were investigated. The results of the study were presented at the scientific conference "Asia and Australian Labor Economics Society 2022" held at the University of Tokyo, Japan.

"Enterprise Azerbaijan" is becoming a single innovation and startup space within the country

Projects and ideas are posted in 3 languages (English and Russian) on the www.enterprıseazerbaijan.com portal operating under the CAERC. That is, it is possible to apply to the portal in 3 languages, and every application received is recorded and answered. During 2022, 59 new projects were placed on the portal, and at the same time, Enterprise Aquarium, an incubation and acceleration center, was created under the portal in the reporting year. "Alma consulting", "Interno" and "Bonpini", "Ecoprint", "Bippy", "Recycled Art", "GreenBomb", "Biobot", "Entor", "Designyourself", "Plasket" and others by the Center, through international level mentors, regular assistance is provided in the preparation of business plans, marketing issues, the correct definition of the customer base and the establishment of international cooperation.

It should also be noted that the State Employment Agency supported the projects "Interno", "Bonpini", "HealWith" among the startups that applied to the www.enterpriseazerbaijan.com portal within the framework of the "Self-employment program" and provided them with assets. The "Ecoprint", "RecycledArt" and "Biobot" projects of the portal qualified for the "Video report" stage of the competition within the framework of the "Teknofest Azerbaijan" festival, and the "Ecoprint" and "Biobot" projects won the semi-final stage at the next stage of the Teknofest competition. It should be noted that the winner of the third place in category C of the "Green technologies" competition held within the framework of "Teknofest Azerbaijan" was the "Ecoprint" project of the portal www.enterpriseazerbaijan.com.

On the initiative of the British Council, the "Big Idea Challenge 2022" project was implemented by the Center for Analysis and Communication of Economic Reforms (EnterpriseAzerbaijan portal), in cooperation with Newcastle University of England. Startups and idea owners who want to participate in the competition participated by sending their applications to the portal. During the year, the Center received about 30 applications from the project owners, and 15 projects were initially selected from the applications, and 9 projects were selected due to their activity in the preparation of presentations in the subsequent stages. Support was provided for the preparation of scenarios and presentations, and in the end, videos of the projects were prepared and included in the international database of the competition.

One of the important events in 2022 is that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the www.enterpriseazerbaijan.com portal and Nevado University Ozmen Entrepreneurship Center. The "StartUp School" project created under the agreement started operating in November 2022. The main goal of the "Enterprise StartUp School" project, in which foreign mentors will be closely involved, is to provide the youth of Azerbaijan with academic knowledge in order to develop the entrepreneurial spirit and culture, innovations in the country, and to create startups in the direction of entrepreneurship and business management. In this direction, applications will be accepted from February 2023, and the project with the participation of mentors from the USA, Turkey, Israel and Azerbaijan will continue online for 2 months (March and April).

Access to the global space – Digital Commerce Hub

The Digital Trade Hub (DTH), which operates under the CAERC, has completed integration work into the Bank Market application of the Central Bank in order to ensure the opening of both corporate and individual accounts of non-residents in 2022. It is now technically possible to open bank accounts through VIN (virtual identification number) in all banks united under the umbrella of Bank Market. The presentation of the new functionality was carried out within the framework of the conference called "The role of financial institutions in the development of the digital ecosystem", attended by more than 100 financial experts.

In addition, DTH has created an appropriate cooperation platform for providing legal, tax and audit services to mobile and electronic signatories through third-party companies. A joint project with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population has been launched in order to attract employees to non-resident companies, regulate labor relations and use other social services, legal justifications have been completed, and technical work in the direction of integration continues. In the junction, work is being done to provide mobile residency to non-residents.

It should also be noted that the executive director of IITKM was elected the local coordinator of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) for Azerbaijan. UN ESCAP, which the Center jointly with the State Customs Committee, is considered to be the largest regional intergovernmental platform consisting of 53 permanent and 9 observer member states. UN ESCAP is currently implementing the project "Checking Azerbaijan's readiness for cross-border paperless trade". Actively participates in the implementation of the project in terms of ensuring digitization in cross-border operations and improving the relevant infrastructure in DTH, where the center is the operator.

"ONE STOP SHOP" Export Support Center

In 2022, the "One Stop Shop" Export Support Center operating under the CAERC was approached 1848 times by legal entities and individuals. A total of 3726 certificates were issued by the export support center, including 2211 phytosanitary certificates, 1198 certificates of origin, 163 veterinary certificates, 153 CITES certificates, and 1 cultural property protection certificate. In particular, exports worth 269.7 million US dollars were carried out through the "One Window" Export Support Center in 2022. Precious ingots, cotton seed, cotton seed, pomegranate, apple, cherry juices, mixed juices, pomegranate concentrate, brandy, wine, etc. export processes involving various types of non-oil products covered Switzerland, Russia, Georgia, Turkey and Kazakhstan during the past year.

Steps to expand exports through the www.azexport.az internet portal

In total, the value of export orders entered on the www.azexport.az internet portal in 2022 amounted to 464.2 million US dollars. The highest figure with 52.3 million dollars was recorded in May, and the lowest figure with 28.2 million manats was recorded in June. The portal is continuously active in the direction of developing international cooperation, the goal of which is to expand the implementation geography. For this purpose, relations are established with the relevant institutions of different countries, and in parallel, work is being done to educate local entrepreneurs about the possibilities of applying to the portal. Meetings regarding the portal were held with entrepreneurs in various regions and the opportunities of the portal were explained to the businessmen.

During 2022, kalaghayi products produced by "Azeripak" LLC, a subsidiary of "Azerbaijan Industry Corporation" OJSC under the brand name "Made in Azerbaijan", examples of decorative and applied folk crafts of Azerbaijan within the framework of cooperation with the public legal entity "ABAD" was presented to international buyers on "Amazon" and "eBay" platforms through the portal. The "Trade Help Desk" platform was formed by the portal to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Eastern Partnership region and to strengthen trade relations.

The Center has provided Free Sale Certificates for 633 products until November 2022. As a result, a number of products produced in Azerbaijan are exported to Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, etc. access to countries has become easier.

The www.azexport.az internet portal is also continuously working towards the development of electronic trade, for this purpose it cooperates with relevant international organizations. For example, the portal closely cooperates with the international consortium "International Consortium of E-Commerce Development (ICED)", which aims to develop e-commerce in member countries. In particular, the Portal was presented at the Azerbaijan Agricultural Trade Mission event held in Wenatchee, Washington State, USA, and was represented at the "Northwest Horticultural Exhibition 2022". During the year, the representative of the portal visited the head office of the Amazon e-commerce platform, the United States, Turkey, etc. held a series of meetings in the countries, held various discussions in the direction of the development of e-commerce, export possibilities of Azerbaijani products, facilitation of export processes.

International cooperation directions of CAERC

CAERC also closely cooperates with a number of international organizations. Here, the goal is to reflect the truths about our country in the statements and reports of international organizations, and to analyze the perspectives and successes of the Azerbaijan state in relation to the announced indicators, ratings, and reports, and to show the solutions to the existing problems. Of course, the formation of bilateral and multilateral cooperation is also important in terms of the sharing of advanced experience. Mrs. Manuela Traldi, president of the Italian-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce at CAERC during the year, Gustavo Ramiresi, economist of the Middle East and Central Asia department, who is on a visit to Azerbaijan within the framework of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission under the Article IV Agreement, Ifeyinwa Onugha, the World Bank's Senior Specialist in the Private Sector, Ramil Maharramov, Chief Financial and Private Sector Specialist of the World Bank, William Thompson, Head of the Eurasian Department of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), etc. meetings were held with During the meeting, activities aimed at the development of economic and trade relations, strengthening cooperation and friendship between the parties, business forums, seminars and other business meetings between the countries, as well as individual projects for companies to enter foreign markets with the support of high-level local and foreign experts were discussed. The employees of the center are represented at international events organized in different countries, gather experience, increase their knowledge and skills for more flexible and efficient coordination of the reforms implemented in our country.

"Reform volunteers" - active members of the volunteer movement

The participation of "Reform volunteers" in the quality performance of the tasks assigned to the center should be specially noted. In 2022, "Reform volunteers" continued their activities in the direction of increasing the knowledge and skills of Azerbaijani youth, gaining experience, participating in events, training and projects organized by the Center, communicating with economically experienced persons, supporting and developing initiatives aimed at the economic development of our country. The website volunteer.ereforms.gov.az was created by the Center in order to stimulate the activities of volunteers and promote volunteerism. During 2002, 102 people started working as "Reform volunteers", 70 people successfully completed their volunteer activities and were awarded certificates, and more than 40 students were also awarded with letters of appreciation. Dozens of articles were prepared and presentations were made by volunteers on the economic reforms implemented in our country. In total, 417 young people who applied for the volunteering program during the Center's activity successfully completed it and received a certificate or were awarded with a letter of appreciation. Meetings of volunteers with various well-known persons were organized, as well as social network pages of "Reform volunteers" were prepared and made available to young people. At the V Solidarity Forum of Volunteers, which is traditionally held, 2 members of "Reform Volunteers" distinguished by their activity and initiative in 2022 were awarded in the "Active Volunteer" nomination.

Thus, the creation of the CAERC, which has a unique position in our country and the region as a think tank, and its participation in this reform process, shows that the efficiency of public administration in Azerbaijan has been ensured. The reason for the success of IITKM is precisely effective management, digital solutions, human capital and commitment to statehood. The business acumen and enthusiasm of the employees we meet in the corridors, offices and meeting halls, as well as the continuous publication of detailed information on the official website and social network addresses, the fact that the employees of the Center regularly exhibit approaches to the socio-economic processes taking place in the country and the world through television, are clear examples of the busy business life. is an example. It is gratifying that graduates, doctors of science and philosophy, masters who graduated from prestigious foreign universities at CAERC are trying to contribute to the economic reforms implemented in Azerbaijan with high professionalism and patriotism, they are performing result-based activities by achieving a more successful implementation of the programs and strategies adopted by our state. .