Baku hosts workshop on protection of shareholders' rights

Gunduz Mammadov, the Chairman of the State Committee for Securities, said that events in this type are of the utmost importance for development of Azerbaijani joint stock companies. He underscored that there are still problems in protection of the rights of stockholders despite recent improvements.

He added that the Committee received 101 complaints from 200 joint stock companies related to the violation of shareholders' rights, APA reports.

Thomas Mayer, the representative for Azerbaijan of Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), said that the results of a survey to examine the implementation of the corporate governance practices by Azerbaijan’s banks, firms, joint-stock companies unveiled both negative and positive cases.

He added that Azerbaijani firm' and organizations' acquiring corporate governance standards is paving the way for magnetization of foreign investment inflow. The workshop also discussed issues related to shareholders' rights, holding general meeting of shareholders and equal treatment.

The Azerbaijan Corporate Governance Project (ACGP) was officially announced on May 8, 2003 at the "Investing in Azerbaijan - Gateway to the Newly Independent States" conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The objective of the project is to assist Azerbaijani joint stock companies, including banks, to improve their corporate governance practices. The project works with companies on the issues of protecting shareholders’ rights, improving transparency and disclosure policies, and implementing other best practices in corporate governance. To achieve these goals the project holds training events and seminars for managers and board members of companies.

The project also works with the Azerbaijani government authorities to improve the legislative framework related to corporate governance.

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