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EBRD delegation visits Azerbaijan
A delegation of the EBRD, led by President Jean Lemierre, visits Azerbaijan on
April 10-11 for meetings with senior Azerbaijani officials including President
Ilham Aliyev. EBRD officials will also hold meetings with Minister of Economic
Development Heydar Babayev, the Azerbaijani Governor at the EBRD, and Chairman
of the National Bank of Azerbaijan, Elman Rustamov.
The visit will include the signing of a $2 million credit line with a local
financial institution, AZERIGAZBANK OJSC, for on-lending to micro- , small-
and medium-sized Azerbaijani enterprises. The signing takes place at Caspian B
Room at the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 0930 on April 11 and will be followed by a
press conference.
On April 11 the EBRD delegation will also visit the city of Guba, to
familiarise itself with development of small and medium-size businesses
outside of the country’s capital.
The EBRD remains committed to working with Azerbaijan in its transition to a
market economy. The Bank's latest strategy for the country focuses primarily
on
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The development of the non-oil sector and regional economic diversification;
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Enhancement of the competitiveness of the banking sector and using that sector
as an intermediary to provide support to micro, small and medium-sized
enterprises;
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The rehabilitation of public infrastructure – roads, rail, power,
telecommunications; and
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The continuing development of the natural resources sector, with due regard to
the environment, transparent management and effective utilisation of revenues.
Azerbaijan has already made progress in area, being the first EBRD country of
operation to sign up to the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative
(EITI), a programme to promote transparency in energy usage and mining.
As of 30 March 2006, the EBRD has committed €666 million to support 44
country and 5 regional projects. The total costs of these projects are in
excess of €5.6 billion. The portfolio value reached €485.5 million at the end
of February 2006. A large portion of the commitments by volume is in the oil
and gas sector, as well as large infrastructure projects (power, transport and
municipal infrastructure). A larger number of projects with smaller size are
in Financial Institutions and Specialized Industries sectors. About 60% of the
portfolio is in the private sector.
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