Official visit of the ILO Moscow Office delegation to Baku, Azerbaijan

News | 29 August 2002
The ILO Moscow office – the Director Ms. Pauline Barrett-Reid, the Senior occupational safety and health Expert Mr. Wiking Husberg, Ms. Irina Melekh, Gender Specialist and Country officer and Ms. Severine Deboos, Employment sector programme officer – visited Baku from 26 to 29 August. This was the second official visit by the Director since taking up appointment. The delegation was received by A. Nagiyev, Minister of Labour and his heads of departments, Mr. A. Mamedov, Employers’ representative and his deputy and the Mr S. Mehbaliyev, Trade unions’ representative and his colleagues. The discussion was centered around implementation of the Programme of Technical Cooperation between the Tripartite Constituents and the ILO Moscow Office with particular emphasis on employment, occupational safety and health and gender.

In addition a visit was paid to the UNDP Permanent Representative Mr. Borsotti and the World Bank Representative Mr. A. Noman.

Government, Trade Unions and Employers discuss the priorities for an employment strategy

On the request of its tripartite constituents – Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Trade Unions and Employers’ organizations - the ILO Moscow Office organized a one-day workshop to discuss issues related to the definition of employment strategy in Azerbaijan.

Based on presentations made on the basics of employment policies and experiences from other transition economies, about 35 participants from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Confederation of Employers, Confederation of Trade Unions, General and regional Employment Services commented and gave their opinion on the priorities to be addressed in Azerbaijan.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Mehrabov, head of the General Employment Department, underlined that the first priority that an employment strategy should address is poverty alleviation for the unemployed. The disruption of economic links established under the planned economy lead to a difficult situation on the labour market, with a high dependence on oil exportation. Mr. Meharbov underlined that Azerbaijan had large resources the country should count on, not only oil resources but, certainly more important, human resources.

Ms. Barrett-Reid, Director of the ILO Moscow Office, set out the challenges that former soviet economies have to face today when drawing up their employment policies. Previously, the situation on the labour market was the following: no unemployment – leading to low productivity, low wages, labour hoarding -, no entrepreneurship, one-industry-towns, no idea of internal/external market, and no banking/financial institutions. Today, there is no longer full employment, but still a low productivity, there is no more labour-hoarding but hidden unemployment, and new developments have appeared in banking system and entrepreneurship. The challenges are important, and the definition of a comprehensive approach to employment promotion policy is a first prerequisite.

Ms. Deboos, programme officer for the Employment sector in the ILO Moscow Office, made then a three- part presentation. First, an introduction of the mechanisms that should be taken into account when formulating a policy for employment promotion. Second, an introduction on the theoretical analysis of employment.

The third part focused on the employment policies in transition economies, on the basis of recommendations made in “Employment and Labour Market Policies in Transition Economies”, Alena Nesporova, ILO Publication. Stressing the importance of adopting a more comprehensive approach, taking into account the full range of economic, social and other factors affecting employment, and the necessity to distinguish clearly between short, medium and long-term goals, and creating relevant policy instruments, the following areas were outlined:

- Business promotion and job creation,

- Promotion and protection of human development,

- Strengthening the social dialogue,

- Refinement of labour market policies, especially for vulnerable groups,

Following this presentation, Mr. V. Mamedov, Head of the Employment policy and demography Department in the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Mr. C. Nagiyev, Director of the Legal Department in the Confederation of Employers, Mr. C. Tagiyev, Director of Protection of Socio-Economic Status of Employees and Labour Department in the Confederation of Trade Unions, commented the situation in the area of employment in Azerbaijan.

The whole day seminar was characterized by open discussion, touching upon, especially the following issues:

- The lack of interaction between the different ministries and with civil society in the process of the definition and implementation of employment policy; Azerbaijan has no State programme dedicated to employment policy, giving a comprehensive approach to the different issues.

- The difficulty to plan and implement the programme of privatization, with a lack of understanding of what the entrepreneurship is, lack of information, necessity to shift mentalities

- The inadequacy of the skills and qualifications

- The insufficient development of the non-oil system

- The challenges stemming from the development of the informal economy

- The gender aspects in the employment related policies and the role of women in the economic life.

But, then there is a realization that there needs to be a change in order to achieve sustainable economic development.