BBC Monitoring Service, Turan news agency,
1, August 2007

Azartac state news agency today published a decree by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev "On endorsement of the national strategy on increasing transparency and fight against corruption". The decree was signed on 28 July 2007.

With the aim of continuing measures to fight corruption, to improve the legal framework and institutional mechanisms, to increase the transparency of the work of state agencies and local government bodies and to implement state policy in this area, the president ruled the following. First, he endorsed the national strategy on increasing transparency and fight against corruption and an action plan for 2007-11.

He instructed central and local executive agencies to be guided by the national strategy in their activity and to report every six months to the Cabinet of Ministers and the commission on the fight against corruption on the implementation of measures specified by the action plan of the national strategy.

The Cabinet and the anti-corruption commission are instructed to analyse the implementation of the action plan and to submit the [results of the] analysis to the president.

The Milli Majlis [parliament], courts, the Prosecutor-General's Office, the [Justice Ministry's] judicial council, the human rights commissioner and local government bodies are recommended to take measures required to implement the action plan of the national strategy.

The commission to fight corruption should inform the public on activities in this area. The Cabinet should tackle, within its powers, other issues ensuing from the presidential decree.