Özet:

At the beginning of the 1990s, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the political independence of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The most important of the basic conditions necessary for the guarantee of the political independence gained was to have a solid economy. According to the policies carried out in the first years, the oil agreements provided the participation in the production of oil resources that the country possesses and the necessary financial resources for economic development were obtained. As a result of the oil agreements, large foreign investments have been made in the Absheron region, which covers the capital Baku and its nearby surroundings, and thus the region has reached a certain level of development. As a result of the economic policies carried out during this period, a short period of significant developments in macroeconomic indicators have been observed. In this context, inflation has been controlled, the budget gap has been reduced to 1% to 2% of GDP, privatization reforms have been implemented gradually and systematically in the country and many steps have been taken to encourage entrepreneurial activity. Since 1997, economic development has been provided partially, land reforms in the country have been fully implemented, 1390 thousand hectares of land have been fully privatized. The annual growth rate of GDP reached 1.3% in 1996, 5.8% in 1997, and 10% annually between 1998 and 2003. Despite the developments in the country, there were many problems that were expected to be resolved in the social and economic life of the country, especially in the area of regional development and employment. As a result of the political and economic crises in the former Soviet countries, the collapse of Azerbaijan’s relations with the former Soviet republics has led to the deformation of the production forces and the production infrastructure in other regions of the country. Foreign investments in the country have generally been directed to the sectors related to the oil and oil sector, which has led to the economic recovery of this sector. In this context, the development of non-oil sectors and other economic areas has been stopped. Due to these developments, the flow of population to the country’s capital has increased, the regional development of the economy has decreased, the difference between the development levels of the regions has increased, and in some regions the social, economic, demographic and ecological situation has deteriorated. This situation observed in various sectors and regions requires the elimination of regional differences, the development of separate areas of the economy, the expansion of the activities of local production enterprises, the stimulation of export-oriented production, and the implementation of regional development policies that enable the development of local entrepreneurship. In this context, various regional development programs have been prepared and implemented in the Republic of Azerbaijan. These programmes have started to be implemented gradually since 2004 to cover the four-year period. Three state programmes covering the years 2004-2008, 2009-2013, 2014-2018 and aiming at regional development have been prepared and implemented. The latest developments in this context have occurred with the approval by the President of Azerbaijan on 29.01.2019 of the State Programme aimed at regional socio-economic development to cover the years 2019-2023. This study examined the development policies implemented in the Republic of Azerbaijan and the regional development programmes implemented within the framework of these policies.