Azernews.Az

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has summed up a project on improving corporate governance in Azerbaijan, which helped to draw direct investments to the country worth $132 million, the project manager has said.

"13 pilot companies participated in implementing the [Azerbaijan Corporate Governance Project (ACGP)] project to apply the best experience in the field of corporate governance, which enabled them to attract $126 million in investments," Caroline Bright said during the presentation of results on Thursday. "In total, the project promoted direct investments in the amount of $132 million by Azerbaijani companies and banks."

According to Bright, the project played a significant role in improving corporate governance in 32 companies and banks. As a result, Azerbaijani companies attracted investments totaling $550 million to the country.

Swiss Ambassador to Azerbaijan Sabine Ulmann Shaban said Azerbaijan is a priority country for Switzerland. Non-repayable Swiss grants to the Azerbaijani economy have reached $70 million.

"Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) rendered technical assistance to the implementation of this project in the country, and intends to further work in this direction in the Europe and Central Asia region," the ambassador said.

The project contributes to the introduction of corporate governance standards in accordance with the norms of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The project, initiated by the IFC and financed by SECO, was formally opened on January 26, 2005. The implementation of its first phase, which lasted three years, had been estimated at over $2 million. SECO allocated more than $4 million to finance the second phase of the project.