Azernews.Az

By Leman Mammadova

Baku hosted a business seminar “Azerbaijan on the way to the implementation of investment projects: the possibilities of Gazprombank” organized by the Ministry of Economy, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council and Russian Gazprombank on March 12.

Azerbaijan’s Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev talked about long-term economic and trade relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, as well as investments made by Gazprombank in the country's oil and gas sector.

Mustafayev said that Azerbaijan and Russia are strategic partners and are actively building up bilateral cooperation, including trade and economic one.

He said that so far Russia has invested about $4.2 billion in Azerbaijan’s economy, and Azerbaijan has invested over $1 billion in Russia’s economy. The trade turnover between the two countries for the year increased by 20 percent, reaching $2.55 billion, he added.

“A whole range of measures is being taken to build up bilateral cooperation, financial institutions and financial market play a special role in this,” he said. “We have quite a good cooperation in the investment sphere. About 700 companies with Russian capital operate in Azerbaijan, and they are involved in many areas of the country’s economy.”

Mustafayev noted the role of Russia’s Gazprombank, which is actively involved in the implementation of industrial projects in Azerbaijan. Among these projects, he mentioned the construction of the SOCAR Polymer plant.

“The plant is already operating and offers its products not only in the domestic market of Azerbaijan, but also successfully exports it,” the economy minister added.

He said that the tendency of expansion of economic interaction meets the growing interests of the business circles of the two countries. Russia-Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan-Russia business councils are particularly active in this direction, he noted.

In turn, deputy chairman of the bank Famil Sadigov said that Russia's Gazprombank is considering the possibility of financing projects in agriculture and infrastructure in Azerbaijan.

Sadigov noted that the projects provide for the creation of industrial enterprises in the agricultural sector and for the construction of roads.

He further added that together with the Azerbaijani side, work is underway to create a mechanism for attracting Gazprombank’s investments in various areas. As part of their visit to Baku, representatives of the bank will also discuss the possibility of raising funds from capital markets to finance these projects.

Sadigov sterssed that Gazprombank is ready to allocate up to $3 billion for projects in Azerbaijan.

Sadigov said that Gazprombank considers Azerbaijan's State Oil Company SOCAR a reliable partner and is ready to continue cooperation.

He added that Gazprombank has financed the SOCAR Polymer project in Azerbaijan and the modernization of Azerikimya Production Union enterprises.

Sadigov said the bank is also interested in participating in the financing of the construction project of SOCAR GPC complex. He added that Gazprombank may allocate $400-800 million for the project.

The SOCAR GPC complex will consist of gas processing and polymer plants. The complex will annually produce 9.1 billion cubic meters of purified gas, 600,000 tons of low and high pressure polyethylene, 130,000 tons of propylene, 42,000 tons of benzene, 25,000 tons of gasoline. There will also be produced 32,000 tons of butene-1 and 21,000 tons of hexene-1 for internal use.

Addressing the conference, Chairman of the Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council Samad Gurbanov said that Azerbaijan and Russia’s Gazprombank have prospects for expanding cooperation.

He said that Gazprombank has great and successful experience in financing projects in Azerbaijan.

Gurbanov also noted the role of the Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council headed by him in cooperation between the two countries, stressing that it is an effective mechanism in deepening cooperation between the business circles of Azerbaijan and Russia.

“The business council consists of 120 members representing various industries,” he added. “They include private companies and state organizations, as well as small and medium business representatives. The business council actively cooperates with partner organizations such as the Russia-Azerbaijan Business Council, the All-Russia Business Association "Delovaya Rossiya", the Russian trade office in Azerbaijan, as well as with government agencies, in particular Azerbaijan’s Economy Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia.”

First Vice President of Gazprombank Aleksey Chichkanov made a speech on “Experience and capabilities of Gazprombank in the implementation of infrastructural projects within the framework of public-private partnership in Azerbaijan” at the seminar, Executive Vice President of the Bank Pavel Isayev on "Mutual Interaction of Capital Markets of Russia and Azerbaijan: Prospects of Cooperation", Deputy Director of the Bank's Project Department Vyacheslav Okhotin on "Experience and Prospects of Financing Projects in Azerbaijan", Head of Bank's Finance Department Igor Blandin on "Experience of Gazprombank in financing of agricultural projects in Russia and CIS countries", Head of Bank’s Analytical Department Gulnara Haydarshina on "Azerbaijan and Russia's Economy: Opportunities for the Development of Cooperation".

The Gazprombank Group includes many different companies that operate not only on the financial market, but also on the markets of precious metals, oil and gas, construction and others.

In Azerbaijan, the bank participated in financing the SOCAR Polymer project, allocating a loan in the amount of $489 million. Last fall, Gazprombank also concluded an agreement with the Azerbaijan's State Oil Company SOCAR and the Russian Export Center. The agreements will allow the bank to support the supply of Russian equipment and services that are in demand in Azerbaijani projects.

The Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council was established in 2016.

The main goal of the Council is further deepening of ties in the fields of economy and mutual investment between Azerbaijan and Russia, cooperation between businessmen. To this end, the Azerbaijan-Russia Business Council closely cooperates with a similar organization in Russia - the Russian-Azerbaijani Business Council, and systematically holds joint meetings of business councils with the participation of businessmen.

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Leman Mammadova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @leman_888

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