BSTDB prepares country strategy for 2019-2022 in Azerbaijan
By Leman Mammadova
Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov met with the delegation headed by the new President of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), Dmitry Pankin who is on a visit to Baku to take part in the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization in Baku.
The current situation and further expansion of the partnership between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the BSTDB, the draft of the Medium-Term Strategy and Business Plan for 2019-2022, as well as country strategy for Azerbaijan 2019-2022 and other issues of mutual interest were discussed.
Later, the delegation led by Dmitry Pankin held a meeting at the Financial Market Supervisory Authority.
The President of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, Dmitry Pankin, spoke about the projects implemented by the organization so far in Azerbaijan, his close co-operation with financial institutions and his interest in the implementation of new projects in the future.
BSTDB was established in 1999 by the founder and member countries of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization - Azerbaijan, Albania, Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Greece, Ukraine and Armenia.
At present, the authorized capital of the bank is 3.45 billion and the share capital is 2.3 billion euros. Azerbaijan has 5 percent share capital and is the seventh largest shareholder of 11 member countries. Since the beginning of the Bank, the bank has allocated a total of 360 million euros to the private sector in Azerbaijan on 34 projects, which is 8.3 percent of the total loan portfolio of the bank. Azerbaijan has a 5% stake in BSTDB's share capital.
In 2017, 93.12 million euros were allocated to Azerbaijan, and contracts worth 91.1 million euros were signed.
BSTDB supports economic development and regional co-operation, participates in member countries in granting loans for projects in the public and private sectors, opening credit lines, investing in and granting guarantees and trade financing.
Today, the 39th meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation member-states took place in Baku under the chairmanship of Azerbaijan.
The delegations headed by senior officials of the BSEC member-states are taking part in the meeting.
In general, during Azerbaijan’s chairmanship, four ministerial meetings were held, including a meeting at the level of foreign ministers, 21 thematic meetings of the working group and an ad hoc working group.
The action plans of a number of working groups (tourism, ICT, energy) were adopted. More than 10 meetings of the bodies of the organization, workshops and other events were held. Moreover, the corresponding assessment documents were prepared to improve the efficiency of the organization.
Moreover, during Azerbaijan’s chairmanship, the discussions were underway to complete the work on the project "Regional Trade Facilitation Strategy for the BSEC Region" and the project "BSEC Single Window Cooperation".
After Azerbaijan, the chairmanship will be transferred to Bulgaria.
The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation is an intergovernmental organization uniting 12 countries of the Black Sea and southern Balkans. The organization was founded in 1992. The headquarters of the organization is located in Istanbul.
Azerbaijan assumed the BSEC chairmanship at the 38th meeting of the Organization's Council of Foreign Ministers, which took place on June 27. Azerbaijan will chair BSEC until December 2018.
---
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz