On March 18, 2026, held the next meeting of the Council of Young Scientists and Specialists was at the Institute of Economics of the Ministry of Science and Education, chaired by Doctor of Philosophy Elnur Zeynalov.
First, the Executive Director of the Institute, Associate Professor Famil Rustamov, spoke about the 13th session of the World Urban Planning Forum, which will be held in Baku from May 17 to 22, 2026, its importance for our country as one of the most influential events in the field of urban planning in the world, and contributions of Azerbaijan to international urbanization processes.
He also described this event as an indicator of the high level of trust that our country has earned as a reliable partner. He noted that the event will discuss important issues such as housing, land use, urban planning, governance and participation, where, in addition to listening to the views of various stakeholders, key issues such as affordable housing for all, transformation of informal settlements, urbanization, urban planning, migration, recovery and reconstruction processes, as well as identifying steps to be taken to strengthen climate resilience will be touched upon. All these issues are also relevant topics for Azerbaijan and provide a good opportunity for discussion, which will also allow us to present the potential opportunities of our country.
Nusret Ibrahimov, a research fellow at the Institute's "Demography and Employment Problems" department, PhD, made a presentation on "Demographic consequences of urbanization processes in the context of WUF-13: Urbanization-Demographic Transformation Index (on the example of Azerbaijan)." He stated that within the framework of the research conducted together with another employee of the department, Dr. Akifa Agayarova, a general analysis of demographic indicators in Azerbaijan was conducted, the issues and their importance discussed at the World Urbanization Forum, the interaction between urbanization and demography in our country, the situation in the liberated territories in this context were analyzed, and the Urbanization-Demographic Transformation Index was examined. The speaker presented the main results of the research they conducted on the mentioned issues.
The Director General of the Institute of Economics, Professor Nazim Muzaffarli, who attended the event, highly appreciated the presentation of the young researchers and the results of their research, gave them his recommendations, and wished them success in their future research.
Then, questions were answered, interesting discussions were held, and suggestions and recommendations were noted.
