Assa-Irada,
15, April 2008

Azerbaijani state bodies met on Tuesday to mull the State Program on Sustainable Socio-Economic Development of the Regions in 2009-2013.

Economic Development Minister Heydar Babayev told the first meeting of the taskforce and commission set up to deal with preparing the program that along with regions as a whole, even the smallest villages of the country will be covered by the activities, and all issues of public concern will be solved.

The current program, which is a continuation of a similar one for 2004-2008, aims to capitalize on the existing potential of the regions. It envisions boosting all non-oil fields, including the production of agricultural goods, the utilities sector, expanding operations at existing production enterprises and expediting the application of information technologies. The minister said the new program aimed to counter the inflow of the population to the capital. Work will be done to provide rural residents with jobs for the purpose.

"This can't be done by opening jobs alone. Comprehensive conditions should be provided in those regions, just like in the capital. The roads, social environment, transport and technologies should be at the high level observed in Baku. In this case, people will tend to stay in the regions and work, which would prevent the process of urbanization."

668,000 jobs were opened within the previous development program. 80% of them opened in the regions. Overall, 98% of the activities envisioned by the program have already been carried out. The President pays regular visits to the districts to become familiar with progress in the program implementation. 15 additional decrees have been signed by the head of state to speed up the process. The poverty level in the country has gone down to 16%.*