On 4 July 2023, the German-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce (AHK Azerbaijan) organised the next AHK Impuls with the participation of over 70 representatives from members and partners of the Chamber. The honorary guest speaker Mr Shahin Baghirov, Chairman of the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan, spoke on the topic of “Customs Regulations in Azerbaijan: Current Trends and Enhancing Public-Private Cooperation”. Also at the meeting, Ms Sevinj Rahimova, the Founder and Director of SERA Holding LLC, gave information about the services and activities of Smart Finans LLC.

Opening the event, Mr Tobias Baumann, Executive Director of AHK Azerbaijan, welcomed the member companies, greeted the representatives of the diplomatic missions, introduced the speakers and expressed his gratitude towards Smart Finans LLC for supporting the AHK Impuls event. He then passed the floor to Ms Sevinj Rahimova.

In her keynote address, Ms Sevinj Rahimova welcomed the guests and gave information about the activities and services of Smart Finans LLC, which is a part of SERA Holding. Ms Rahimova said the company provides finance, accounting, consulting and audit services. She also spoke about customs services, which are among the most exciting subjects for entrepreneurs, and emphasised the state's support for this area.

Then Mr Tobias Baumann gave the floor to the honorary guest speaker of the event Mr Shahin Baghirov.

In his speech, Mr Shahin Baghirov welcomed the event participants and said that the State Customs Committee is always open to such initiatives and emphasised the importance of these kinds of meetings contributing to business-customs partnership. First, Mr Bagirov gave extensive information about the strategic goals, missions and principles of the State Customs Committee.

Later, Mr Baghirov shared detailed information about each of the completed projects. Mr Baghirov also highly appreciated the cooperation of the companies in the completion of the electron account application, as well as he said that since May 10 of the current year, all entrepreneurs carrying out import-export operations have become users of the electronic account application and informed that the mobile data of the application is already available. Mr Baghirov also stressed the importance of requesting the electronic notification form from the customs offices.

Following this, Mr Baghirov said that the ongoing projects were carried out on the basis of regular discussions and gave extensive information about the risk management system project. Mr Baghirov also said that they will be able to check whether the products brought to the country of this project have been approved not only by the State Customs Committee but also by other institutions through the risk management system.

At the end of his speech, Mr Shahin Baghirov emphasised the importance of the principle of transparency and called on private sector representatives to cooperate with the customs authorities.

The event was followed by concluded with a question-and-answer session, lively discussions and a business networking dinner.