Economy Minister: Healthy competition ensures free economy for country

Economy Minister Mikail Jabbarov made a speech at the meeting of the Economic Policy, Industry and Entrepreneurship Committee of Milli Majlis (the Azerbaijani Parliament) held on 5 October, Azernews reports.

"The Competition Code will become the main normative base in the sphere of antimonopoly activity. The document has been prepared to take into account international practice, scientific principles, and current economic conditions," the Minister said.

The minister said the draft code creates a comprehensive legal framework to eliminate the impact of monopolistic tendencies on economic activity and the state budget in the direction of developing a competitive environment and strengthening the institutional framework.

The draft law will serve to ensure competitive neutrality in the framework of economic regulation, prevent abuse of dominant position and market power, stimulate the activities of economic entities, and protect and develop the competitive environment.

"Observations show that as a free business environment develops, along with economic progress, market failures, monopolistic tendencies grow, illegal economic activity expands and a number of risks to the economy emerge.

When the legislative framework is inadequate, these risks lead to the disruption of economic activity and slow inclusive development. To neutralize these risks, the priority should be to increase the efficiency of state regulation," the Minister noted.

The Economy Minister also noted during his speech that the acceleration of economic development of Azerbaijan depends on the application of a free competition policy.

"The presence of effective competition in the domestic market encourages companies to innovate and seek ways to enter foreign markets for further growth. On the contrary, the presence of artificial obstacles to competition serves the interests of only one group of entrepreneurs and deprives others of the opportunity to be represented on the market, increasing the costs of consumers.

At the same time, entrepreneurs surrounded by protectionist measures have less interest in innovation and higher productivity." Jabbarov said.

The Minister noted that the strategy of economic policy, which determines the economic development of each country, developed in accordance with the priorities applied at different historical stages.

"We believe that at the present stage, accelerating the economic development of our country and increasing the efficiency of the business environment depends on the application of free competition policy.

"This is confirmed by the program documents that form the basis of the development directions of our state for the next ten years. A legal basis must be created for the activities of business entities in conditions of healthy competition, and the adoption of the Competition Code is related to this," the Minister added.