Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The Asian Development Bank will finalize its new 5-year strategy for Azerbaijan, covering the period 2014-2018, early next week.

The ADB Baku office said that an ADB team led by Resident Representative Olly Norojono has concluded its consultations with relevant stakeholders on the draft partnership strategy for Azerbaijan.

The team met with government officials, representatives of civil society organizations, think tanks, development partners, and businesses.

Commenting on the results of the visit, ADB Senior Economist David Oldfield said that the mission received positive feedback and useful inputs to the draft strategy from various stakeholders, which will allow the team to refine the strategy and finalize it some time early next year.

Oldfield further said that the proposed strategy will address the demand-driven infrastructure needs of the country and scale up the knowledge work that is appropriate for an upper middle-income country such as Azerbaijan.

The priority sectors of transport, municipal infrastructure and services, energy, and private sector finance were identified through diligent needs assessments and frequent discussions with the government about areas in need of support from development partners.

The infrastructure sectors represent a continuity of ADB's operations, while the addition of private sector finance as a priority sector reflects the greater emphasis that ADB will place on private sector operations through lending to banks and trade finance programs.

At present, the ADB has seven ongoing projects in Azerbaijan. The current portfolio of the bank amounts to $990 million. Some 46 percent of the portfolio falls to the transport sector, while 16 percent is in the energy sector and 36 percent in city services, i.e., the improvement of water supply, sanitation system, etc.

According to the updated business plan of the bank's operations in Azerbaijan for 2012-2014, the total amount of funding for approved ADB projects in Azerbaijan in this period will be $575 million. The projects approved under the business plan, as expected, required $250 million in 2012. Some $155 million is expected to be necessary for the projects in 2013 and some $170 million in 2014.

In 2012-2014 the bank intends to allocate $155 million annually out of the ordinary capital resources. The bank plans to allocate $3.25 million in technical assistance in 2012-2014.

Azerbaijan is a member of the ADB since 1999. The country's share in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent.

ADB, based in Manila, is committed to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members, including 48 from the region. In 2012, ADB assistance totaled $21.6 billion, including cofinancing of $8.3 billion.