The Center for Economic and Social Development was set up in 2005 to promote research and analysis into domestic economic and social issues for the purpose to positively influence the public policy decision- making processes. The Center is a leading Azerbaijani think tank specialized in economic and social policy issues working with and establishing bridge between the government and the various representatives of civil society. The Center positions itself in the center of the civil society having tight relationships with media, 24 communities spread around Azerbaijan, NGOs providing services at the grass-root level, international think-tanks, financial institutions and donors, and virtually all the other think tanks functioning in Azerbaijan. CESD is the top think tank in Central Asia according to University of Pennsylvania (USA) (http://gotothinktank.com/dev1/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/GoToReport2013.pdf). The prestigious US university, Harvard University, has added the Center for Economic and Social Development (CESD) into its official think tank directory (http://www.hks.harvard.edu/library/research/guides/think-tanks- directory.htm) CESD is closely working with volunteers. 64 volunteers are actively involved in current activities of the Center, and we expect the figure to get larger by several times in the summer session, and the base of active volunteers involved change regularly when they get promoted more into economic research or studies abroad.

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