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Civil Service Reforms and Good Governance in Azerbaijan On 22 June the UNESCO Centre on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace of Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Civil Service Commission under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the United Nations Department of Public Information (UN DPI) organised a Roundtable discussion on "Civil Service Reforms and Good Governance in Azerbaijan" at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The objective of this joint celebration on the eve of the UN Public Service Day was to highlight the public service's crucial contributions in Azerbaijan's development.
 Bringing together around fifty participants, including high-ranking government officials, civil servants from different government structures, employees of the Academy of Public Administration, and representatives of UN agencies, the roundtable was designed to provide an opportunity for top policy-makers to engage in a dialogue with public servants from different government structures to examine the current situation of the country's civil service and to identify ways of moving towards comprehensive reforms.
Mr. Gandilov concluded his opening remarks by expressing his contentment over the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) being the first governmental agency in the CIS countries and Eastern Europe to be awarded with the 2007 UN Public Service Award, for which he congratulated Mr. Shahmar Movsumov, the Executive Director of this Fund.
Further improvement is needed in enhancing the relationship between civil servants and the public at large, Mr. Khalilov said. Some progress had been made in this area in Azerbaijan, but more needed to be done. He also expressed his pleasure that on 25 May 2006, by the President's Order, 23 June was deemed a professional day for civil servants in Azerbaijan and Mr. Khalilov congratulated all civil servants participating in the roundtable in this regards. In her opening remarks Ms. Envera Selimovic, the UN DPI representative underlined that "without an effective public administration that draws on the skills and sense of purpose of its public servants - working as a team that is accountable to the population - democracy and prosperity are virtually unattainable".
Continuing, she added that through its project on Good Governance through Civil Service Reform, the UNDP is supporting the Civil Service Commission by strengthening the Commission's operational capacities (trainings and study tours), and facilitating the implementation of key civil service reforms. Ms. Selimovic also very briefly touched upon the UN Public Service Award Programme and congratulated the Executive Director of SOFAZ, regarding the remarkable achievement of his organization's winning the 2007 UN public Service Award.
Regarding the second of his highlights - the different programmes related to improvement of professional skills organised at the Academy of the Public Administration under the President of RA - Mr. Movsumov said that a very positive tendency was also observed in the increase of civil servants applying for enrolment in different training courses in 2006 and 2007. At the same time, a plan of special measures has been elaborated, relating to the preparation of a civil servant reserve, he added.
In his presentation Mr. Azay Guliyev, Member of the Parliament and the Permanent Commission on Legal Policy and Institutional Building of the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan touched upon the role of good governance in the foundation of a strong civil society and stressed that more cohesive work should be done in addressing this specific issue. Efforts were also under way to strengthen the legislative basis of civil service reforms, he said. Further, Mr. Guliyev added, numerous laws and regulations on public service were developed and adopted by the Parliament; recently a new Ethics Code of Civil Servants has been elaborated as well and the work was continuing on the preparation of the Law on Conflict of Interests at the moment.
Turning to future directions, Mr. Hajiyev said that it would be extremely important to incorporate Information Communications Technology into civil service reforms and to improve the professional skills of civil servants by organizing the different trainings and seminars which should be prepared in a more consistent way, for example, indicating short-term, medium-term, and long-term training plans for the civil service.
a) an ordinary civil servant refers to a person, who fulfils his/her duties and obligations given by his/her supervisor on time; Following the speeches, a lively discussion then took place.
Stressing that further work should be done within the framework of legal reforms Herman also said that this would be a lengthy process which would demand relentless efforts. The event's theme attracted a large audience and had broad media coverage. Correspondents from almost all of the local TV channels, news agencies and print media participated in the event and widely reported on it.
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The roundtable was opened by Mr. Seyfaddin Gandilov, the Rector of the Academy of Public Administration who welcomed participants and introduced main speakers. Then he spoke of the reforms underway in the area of public administration and noted that the Head of the State also pays special attention to the various measures related to improving governance standards in Azerbaijan.
The next speaker , the Head of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Mr. Bahram Khalilov gave a brief overview of the history of civil service reforms in Azerbaijan and underlined that the "government's performance could only be as good as the people who did its work. Therefore more consistent work should be done to build the capacities of the civil servants". Mr. Khalilov also touched upon the new article "On Performance Appraisal of Civil Servants" included recently into the Law "On Civil Service" and mentioned that it would be an essential element in the process of establishing a competent civil service, which is instrumental to the government's delivery and reform agenda.
She went on to explain how a strong and effective public service was vital to the world's efforts to achieve the UN's MDGs and how the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) supports public administration and civil service management reforms in many countries of the world.
Mr. Huseyn Movsumov, Deputy Head of the Department for the Work with the Regional Administration and Local Self-Governing Bodies of the Office of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, gave a detailed overview of the current work in public administration reforms and indicated that at present, people's interest in becoming civil servants, especially at the local level, has considerably increased, as shown by the increase in submitted applications.
On behalf of SOFAZ, Executive Director Mr. Shahmar Movsumov touched upon the on-going civil service reforms implemented in Azerbaijan and underlined their vital and consistent character.Drawing attention to the fact that appropriate laws and regulations were already passed, as well as the establishment of the government institution, the Civil Service Commission, under which the public service could successfully function, Mr. Movsumov said that this would enhance the role, professionalism, and visibility of good governance in Azerbaijan. Continuing, Mr. Movsumov said that the reforms also cover the economic sphere and the number of efficient, responsible, and transparent government institutions that were competent, representative, accessible and responsive to the needs of people was increased. Exchanging information with the media and civil society representatives through their websites, the establishment of e-governance in the future would be a valuable contribution in this context as well, he said.
Mr. Movsumov also shared with the audience the history of the establishment of SOFAZ, future perspectives of this government agency and expressed his satisfaction that SOFAZ won the 2007 UN Public Service Award and the recognition of his institution's contribution to public service.
Mr. Jahahgir Hajiyev, the Head of the UNESCO Centre on Human Rights, Democracy and Peace of the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan briefly shared with the audience the Centre's main directions and what has been carried out so far.
Mr. Ali Hasanov, the Head of the Department for Public-Political issues of the Office of the President emphasized the important role that the public service was playing in the life of society and went on further to explain how easily various disasters could have occurred if it hadn't been for the appropriate knowledge and skills in the public administration. Continuing, he said that the civil servants who make up the public service could be divided into the following three categories - ordinary civil servants, good civil servants and real civil servants:
Among the different views expressed by the representatives of international organizations and civil servants representing various government structures, Mr. Thomas Herman, the Project Manager of German Technical Cooperation Society (GTZ) made some useful points. Highly appreciating the organisation of such a joint celebration on the eve of UN Public Service Day, he touched upon the legal reforms in the area of public service which are being implemented in Azerbaijan. Drawing attention to the Parliament's recently adopted Administrative Law, Herman noted that the implementation of this law would be complicated without the proper Administrative-Procedural Code, upon which is still being elaborated by the Parliament.
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© United Nations Azerbaijan 2006 |
