Azerbaijan Expands ASAN One-Stop-Shop Public Services Grid

President Ilham Aliyev inaugurated on Tuesday an ASAN public services regional center in the southern city of Lankaran in Azerbaijan.

Located in a three-story administrative building, the new ASAN center will render public services to nearly 500,000 citizens registered in Lankaran, Astara, Lerik, and Yardimli districts.

An Innoland Incubation and Acceleration Center at the facility will encourage the development of startups in the region, which will also be supported by the ASAN Innovative Development Center.

The Azerbaijan Service and Assessment Network (ASAN), which translates to “easy” in Azerbaijani, is a comprehensive service network designed to simplify access to public services and enhance communication between the government and citizens.

The network offers a wide range of services, making it a one-stop-shop for citizens seeking public services. With the new hub in Lankaran, ASAN now renders its services in 27 centers across Azerbaijan. The grid is expected to expand with the launch of the next regional center in Shusha, Karabakh region, this year.

ASAN Service (ASAN Xidmət in Azerbaijani) was introduced in 2012 and has since expanded to 27 centers across Azerbaijan, providing over 360 services through its comprehensive hi-tech system grid.

These services include birth, death, and marriage registration, ID and passport issuance, migration services, driver’s license issuance, real estate records, and electronic visa processing for foreigners, among others. ASAN also offers 55 utility services through three cutting-edge centers, further enhancing government-to-people interaction. Additionally, for those residing in remote areas, ASAN provides a “service on wheels” option through buses known as Mobile ASAN.

Between 2012 and 2023, ASAN Service centers processed more than 63 million applications. Over the same period, the ASAN Mobile network handled nearly 3 million applications from citizens in remote areas. The satisfaction rate of the ASAN Service among Azerbaijani citizens is an impressive 99.8 percent.

The government of Azerbaijan is set to introduce the ASAN Service project in the liberated lands in 2024. The upcoming launch of the cutting-edge service in Shusha, Karabakh (Garabagh) region, fits the country’s action plan for restoring the Azerbaijani public services in territories liberated from Armenian occupation in 2020.

The inaugural presentation of the ASAN Service in the liberated territories of Azerbaijan occurred in August 2022 when a service kiosk was launched in the Aghali village, Zangilan district. In April 2023, a Mobile ASAN Service bus provided express public services, including the issuance and replacement of identity cards, passports, and driver’s licenses, to residents of the liberated Talysh village, Tartar district.

In 2015, the UN acknowledged ASAN Service as the “Best Public Services Concept.” In February of last year, ASAN was awarded the title of “World's Most Advanced Public Service” at the 10th World Government Summit held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The network won the award over contenders from 80 countries in the Global Government Excellence Award Program.

Most recently, ASAN Service has been awarded the "Best Startup Results in the Caucasus" by StartupBlink, a renowned international organization that maps the global startup landscape. The recognition is attributed to the promotion of mechanisms fostering the development of the innovation ecosystem and support for startups.