In January 18, 2017, the next meeting of the Government-Civil Society Dialogue Platform on Open Government Partnership Initiatives took place in Azerbaijan.

It is reported that members of the NGOs, Azerbaijan coordinator of the Open Government Partnership, MP Vusal Huseynov, Rahim Rahimov, head of the legal entities and citizenship status office under the Ministry of Justice participated in this event.

Alimammad Nuriyev, Coordinator of the Platform, informed participants about the 4^th Global Summit of the member countries of the Open Government Partnership, which were held in Paris.
Nuriyev stated that as a result of the initiative of Azerbaijan side the meeting was held with the Director for Civil Society Engagement at the Open Government Partnership, Paul Maassen, Deputy Director of the Natural Resource Governance Institute, Suneeta Kaimal and Managing Director at the Results for Development Institute, Nathaniel Heller. “During the meeting, discussions were held on the initiative of the Open Government, the platform activities and the state of civil society in Azerbaijan. The questions were asked about the platform structure and the admission processes. Azerbaijan’s side stated that the proposals were prepared related to the structure of the platform and they will be adopted in the near future.

Once again Nuriyev stressed that the membership to the platform is open and the cooperation opportunities are available to everyone.

The discussions were held about the decree of the Cabinet of Ministers ‘to make amendments to the registration procedures of the grant agreements (contracts)’ and the challenges civil society face.

1. Nuriyev stated that recommendations of the Open Government Platform were taken into account in making the amendments to the ‘registration of the grant agreements (contracts). He added that ‘this decree significantly eliminates many requirements that have been creating artificial barriers and bureaucratic obstacles in registration of the grant agreements and simplifies the registration procedures. The scope of documents to be submitted for registration of the grant agreement is significantly reduced;

–          The requirement to submit a number of notarized documents is cancelled;

–          If the subject of the grant agreement (contract) is to carry out a service or a work, the agreement is registered as a service contract;

–          The submission and review period are increased for the registration of the grant agreement (contracts);

–          Obligations of the Ministry of Justice to check, if funds of the grant were obtained through legalization of criminal proceeds, as per the regulations of the Republic of Azerbaijan on combating terrorism, are lifted.

Rahim Rahimov, head at the legal entities and citizenship status office under the Ministry of Justice, stated that while changes had been preparing within the requirements of current legislation, issues concerning NGOs were taken into accounts.

H.Hasanov, chairman of the “Law and Development” Public Union, stressed that it has been uncertain how the recent amendment to the Tax Code would affect the activities of NGOs.

Most members of the platform, who were concerned about these issues and other problems concerning NGOs, expressed their views and suggestions on solving these problems.
Platform members discussed the draft Regulations. There were suggestions on the draft Regulations.
Regulations have been adopted, taking into account the proposals of the platform.

A.Nuriyev stated that the website of the Platform will be prepared and presented to the public both in Azerbaijani and English. It was asked to give proposals about the format and content of the website. He mentioned that the announcement will be made for the creation of the platform’s logo and electronic papers will be prepared.