The opening ceremony of the twinning project "Support to pension reforms in Azerbaijan - Phase 2" was held

The opening ceremony of the twinning project of the European Union (EU) "Support to pension reforms in Azerbaijan - Phase 2" was held.

Minister of Labor and Social Protection of the Population Sahil Babayev, EU Ambassador to our country Peter Mikhalko, Deputy Minister of Social Security and Labor of Lithuania Martinas Surkus and Ambassador of that country to Azerbaijan Egidijus Navikas, other officials, MPs, representatives of international organizations took part in the event.

S. Babayev emphasized that the successful social reform program of President Ilham Aliyev also includes the pension system. He noted that the fourth social reform package has already been implemented in Azerbaijan in the last five years and further increases in wages and social payments have been made since the beginning of this year. He pointed out that in the last five years, social payments have increased, including the minimum pension by 2.5 times and the average monthly pension by 80 percent.

The minister noted the steps taken in the direction of applying humanistic approaches in the pension system and expanding the scope of social security. He said that from the beginning of 2019, automatic proactive assignment of pensions, allowances and stipends has been started, and in the past period, 500,000 social security types, including 71,000 pensions, have been proactively assigned.

Pointing out that the relations between Azerbaijan and the EU are developing successfully, the minister said that the jointly implemented projects serve to increase the Ministry's potential for reforms in the fields of social protection, medical-social rehabilitation, insurance-pension, and employment.

Emphasizing that the "Support for Pension Reforms in Azerbaijan" twinning project is an important support in the ongoing reforms, S. Babayev expressed his confidence that the second phase of the project will also contribute to the improvement of the pension system in our country based on the best practices of Europe.