The next meeting of the Working Group on connection to power supply networks was held

On September 29, the next meeting of the Working Group on connection to power supply networks of the Commission on Business Environment and International Rankings was held in video conference format.

The head of the Working Group, Deputy Minister of Energy Samir Valiyev noted that despite the decision of the World Bank management to stop the publication of the “Doing Business” Report, timely and quality work by the Working Group in accordance with the Action Plan approved for the current year should be continued.

The Head of the Secretariat of the Commission Vusal Shikhaliyev said that despite the adoption of reforms on 7 indicators of the report in our country in 2019 by the Doing Business team, during the calculation of ratings, it was rejected based on the subsequent official statement in which the entrepreneurs rejected 3 indicators, including the reforms on connection to power supply. In this regard, the biased attitude towards Azerbaijan has been objected and information on the real work and reforms carried out in the relevant field has been re-presented to the other party. In order to investigate the possibility of negative cases during the development of the report, the World Bank's management involved a legal entity as a third party. As a result, the publication of the "Doing Business" Report was postponed three times, and taking into account the negative circumstances that emerged as a result of the investigation, it was announced that the publication of the next edition of the report was suspended in September 2021. Vusal Shikhaliyev stressed the importance of continuing the work in the direction of carrying out reforms in the relevant field by the Working Group and facilitating the work of entrepreneurs despite of such cases.

Then, according to the agenda of the meeting, the representatives of the relevant bodies informed about the work done in connection with the measures envisaged in the Action Plan of the Working Group.

The document on "Methodology for Determining Quality Indicators of Power Supply for Distribution Networks" presented by "Azerishig" OJSC and the proposals made in this regard were discussed. Taking into account the opinions and proposals of experts from the Ministry of Energy, as well as relevant agencies, it was decided to prepare a feasibility study on the work to be done in order to improve the document, reduce interruptions in annual electricity supply and minimize technological losses.

At the meeting, the sides also exchanged views on the development of Communication Strategy, which serves to increase the level of awareness and satisfaction of entrepreneurship on power supply networks, and establishment of close cooperation between Azerishig OJSC and Deloitte in this field. At the same time, in order to increase the efficiency of the Working Group, it was proposed to consider the involvement of representatives of the private sector, including relevant government agencies, in the Working Group.

The representatives from the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Economy, Small and Medium Business Development Agency, Azerishig OJSC, Azerenergy OJSC, State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, State Committee on Urban Planning and Architecture, Deloitte and Ekvita took part.