The main objective of the project called NTM Business Survey in Azerbaijan was to systematically capture the experiences of businesses in Azerbaijan with non-tariff Measures (NTMs) and related trade obstacles at a very detailed level. The assignment was commissioned by the International Trade Center (ITC), which is a joint agency of the United Nations (UN) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The survey in Azerbaijan was composed of telephone interviews and detailed face-to-face interviews of exporting and importing companies to better understand the challenges they face with regulatory and procedural requirements. For this purpose, the vendor developed business registries for both, trade in goods and services based on pre-defined sectors as required by ITC. The survey is based on a global methodology developed by ITC, consisting of a core part and a country-specific part. The core part is identical in all survey countries, enabling cross-country analyses and comparison. The country-specific parts are developed in cooperation with national stakeholders prior to the survey launch and reflect the particular requirements and needs of each surveyed country. The survey is designed to capture those non-tariff measures which companies experience as barriers or, i.e. a clear impediment to their exporting or importing processes (as opposed to all non-tariff measures or requirements a company has to comply with). In other words, burdensome NTMs and related procedural obstacles, as well as problems with the trade-related business environment will be identified based on the perception of the business sector.
The NTM Business Survey in Azerbaijan falls under ITC’s “Trade and market intelligence for the Eastern Partnership Countries (EaP)” project and is overall part of ITC’s Business Survey initiative that has been implemented in over 70 countries.
Euroconsultants S.A. has established a partnership in Azerbaijan for conducting the project activities locally. The nationwide surveys and interviews on Non-Tariff Measures were conducted with a group of more than 500 Azerbaijani exporters and importers and were extended during its implementation in order to allocate additional efforts for developing business registries database. The Euroconsultants have also developed business registries for both, trade in goods and services based on pre-defined sectors communicated by the ITC. Data collected within this project will allow ITC to conduct comparative analysis and provide tailor made solutions to obstacles experienced by the companies.
In addition, Euroconsultants S.A. has been recently commissioned (02/11/2022) by the Regional Cooperation Council RCC in Sarajevo a project called “Technical support for the development of the regional creative industries towards establishment of creative hubs”. The expertise in creative economy, international liaisons and long term experience of the Company was underlined by the panel of experts granting the project to Euroconsultants S.A.
This opportunity is part of the newly adopted strategy, when in November 2020 the leaders of Western Balkans (WB) – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia - endorsed the Common Regional Market (CRM) Action Plan 2021 – 2024, at the Berlin Process Summit held in Sofia. The CRM Action Plan consists of targeted measures along four key areas: the Regional Trade Area, the Regional Investments Area, the Regional Digital Area and the Regional Industrial and Innovation Area. For the first time, creative industry is recognized (in the CRM Regional Industrial Area) as one of the key industries of the region and as a crucial driver of growth and competitiveness in the region.
This consequently led to conduct a research concluded by the report called “Mapping of the Creative Industries in the Western Balkans”, published by the Regional Cooperation Council RCC in 2021. The RCC office (co-funded by EU) is also coordinating a newly founded Working Group on Industrial Development WGID, which intention is to support establishing Creative Hubs in unused, Post-Industrial heritage of the WB Region.
The objectives of the project implemented by Euroconsultants S.A. are to reinforce support among the WB Economies in order to catalogue the most promising locations (mostly within the Post-Industrial Heritage / brownfields) for the future creative hubs. While the parallel aspect is tackling the issues of cultural diplomacy, which as a strong component and asset, should be underlining internationalization and cross-border exchanges and cooperation. The project will be concluded by the recommendations report, which would highlight as well some known best practices from other European countries, regarding creative economy hubs, which are successfully benefiting cultural professional and civil society.
This project will be finalized by the end of December 2022.
