Co-op with World Bank among Azerbaijan's priorities

By Azernews

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan pays special attention to cooperation with international organizations, as well as the World Bank in the field of the reforms in the social protection sphere, Labor and Social Protection of Population Deputy Minister Anar Karimov said.

He made the remarks at a  videoconference session with the World Bank’s representatives - Chief Specialists on Social Protection Mireille Ovadia and Mitchell Wiener, Chief Economist Demir Sheker and others on September 15.

The deputy minister underlined that the joint projects implemented by Azerbaijan and the World Bank in the past had formed a positive experience of cooperation in this sphere.

During the meeting, Karimov detailed the achievements of reforms in the social sphere and steps taken to strengthen the social protection system.

Moreover, he noted the work carried out in the country to improve management in the areas of pensions, employment, disability, social protection. In addition, he spoke about the introduction of innovative solutions to improve the quality of services.

Karimov also emphasized the importance of joint projects with the World Bank to improve the social protection system on the basis of the world’s best practices.

Noting the bank’s project “support for employment in Azerbaijan”, the deputy minister expressed support for expanding the scope of the self-employment program.

Furthermore, the parties analyzed international experience in the field of mechanisms for the long-term development of the pension system based on actuarial analysis, exchange of experience in monitoring and evaluation of social services.

Additionally, they exchanged views on the possibilities of cooperation in the application of the case management method in connection with social work.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan joined the WB in 1992. Since then, the bank has financed over 50 projects with total commitments of $4.4 billion. It started economic cooperation in Azerbaijan to help increase the country’s institutional capacity and to build efficient management of oil reserves. The World Bank has always supported the large-scale reforms carried out in Azerbaijan.