EU Twinning – Azerbaijan 2020–2022

Introduction

The EU Twinning Project "Support to the State Statistical Committee and the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy to strengthen collection, harmonization, analysis, publishing and dissemination of business statistics" (AZ/16/ENI/ST/01/19 (AZ/53)) is implemented 2020–2022 by a consortium of three EU National Statistical Institutions: Statistics Finland (lead), Statistics Lithuania and Statistics Netherlands.

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The project has three main Objectives:

  1. Assist in improving the Administrative Data Quality between the State Tax Service (STS) and the State Statistical Committee (SSC)
  2. Assist in the upgrading of the production of business statistics with a focus on Small to Medium size Enterprises (SME)
  3. Provide training to these entities on statistical design, analysis, reporting and dissemination.

Keywords

Statistics, Tax Authority, NSI, Business Statistics, SME's, Training

Detailed Description

The overall objective of the Twinning project is to increase capacity among local operators to collect, process, harmonize, analyze, publish and disseminate business statistics measuring the performance of the private sector/SMEs in Azerbaijan.

The Twinning Consortium is led by Statistics Finland with Statistics Lithuania and Statistics Netherlands acting as Junior Partners. Additional expertise will be given by Statistics Denmark and The Finnish Institute of Public Management Ltd (HAUS).

The three components targeted by the Twinning project are reflected in the “State Programme on Improvement of Official Statistics in the Republic of Azerbaijan in 2018-2025” strategy document for developing the national statistical system to better respond to international challenges, improving the provision of statistical data related to sustainable development goals through the expansion of administrative data usage, human capacity building and strengthening the material and technical base in the field of statistics. By entering into this Twinning instrument, the SSC of Azerbaijan will further expand its international cooperation in the field of statistics and the Government’s commitment of approximation to the European standards. This, as well as the strengthening the modernization of the SSC is also noted in the EU Activity plan with regard to Azerbaijan (4.5.5 other main fields - Statistics).

This twinning project is aligned with the Eastern Partnership goals to create conditions for accelerating the political association and economic integration and by supporting reform processes. Responding to demands made by the users, such as statistical information on the SME sector and better-quality SME statistics, require both the will and ability to develop and enhance the services of a national statistical office. The SME component of the Twinning project focuses directly on providing SME statistics to decision-makers forming policies.

The “Strategic Roadmap on perspective of the national economy” identifies statistics as a national priority. The SSC has already taken major steps in implementing international best practices, standards and principles of official statistics preparing the SSC well for this twinning project. The SSC’s priorities are being aligned with the current developments inside the European Statistical System (ESS).

Specific Objective

The specific objective of the project is to improve the capacity of the SSC and the STS under the Ministry of Economy in order to strengthen statistical business registers and to align the business statistics methodology with EU standards and business statistics oriented on future data requirements.

Expected Results

Component 1

  • Result 1: Data quality management standards applied in the source databases of the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy are improved for maintaining and update of the State Register of Statistical Units (SRSU)
  • Result 2: A business case for compliance of the statistical units in the SRSU developed
  • Result 3: A logical design for the renewal and expansion of the software functions for proper maintenance and updating the SRSU is provided

Component 2

  • Result 4: Business Statistics in Azerbaijan redesigned
  • Result 5: The preparation, presentation and dissemination of Annual SME statistics report supported in line with EU/OECD definitions

Component 3

  • Result 6: Capacity of the SSC, the STS under the Ministry of Economy and the SME Agency staff on statistical design, analysis, reporting and dissemination improved

Project Deliverables

Component 1: A unified approach for improved quality of information exchange with the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy databases is implemented

Result 1: Data quality management standards applied in the source databases of the State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy are improved for maintaining and update of the SRSU

Result 2: A business case for compliance of the statistical units in the SRSU developed

Result 3: A logical design for the renewal and expansion of the software functions for proper maintenance and updating SRSU is provided

Component 2: The production of business statistics/ SME statistics in terms of content and organization is upgraded

Result 4: Business Statistics (BS) in Azerbaijan redesigned

Result 5: The preparation, presentation and dissemination of Annual SME statistics report supported in line with EU/OECD definitions

Component 3: Capacity of SSC, State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy and SME Agency staff improved

Result 6: Capacity of SSC, State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy and SME Agency staff on statistical design, analysis, reporting and dissemination improved

Final Report

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