Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has submitted the draft Country Strategy to the government of Azerbaijan.

Head of the EBRD Baku office Neil McKain told Trend news agency that the bank plans to receive feedback on the strategy in six weeks.

Official negotiations on the strategy started in May 2013.

"We are waiting for the government's opinion. Later, we will post the draft on the bank's website to get feedback from governmental organizations and the public," McKain said.

According to McKain, the EBRD Board of Directors is to approve the strategy in January 2014.

The new strategy of the bank will cover the period from 2014 until 2017.

The EBRD's activity in Azerbaijan focuses on the following key areas: industry, commerce and agribusiness, finance and energy, and infrastructure.

Priority areas include increasing investments in the country's non-oil sector, funding financial sector development and support for small business.

McCain said that the new strategy will not drastically differ from the previous one.

"We fully back the policy of economic diversification," McKain said. "The process is underway and we want to strengthen it. In this process, a lot depends on the competitiveness of companies, so we are looking for ways to improve the situation and expand the list of domestic products. Secondly, the goal is to expand access to funding. We are trying to improve the situation for small and medium businesses, as well as for large enterprises."

McKain also said EBRD invested 50 million euros in 12 projects in Azerbaijan in 2013.

"The figures will significantly change by the end of 2013 as we expect approval of major projects in improving the road infrastructure and other sectors," he said, noting that the bank is implementing the business plan ahead of schedule for this year.

McKain said that the bank financed a little more than expected, which could be seen in the number of projects and their scale.

"The private sector is currently developing well. We can sense that. There are many more those who are willing to work with us. The quality of such companies is much better than two years ago," he said.

Earlier, Azerbaijan's Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev noted the importance of the EBRD's experience in supporting the agricultural and industrial parks and invited the bank to directly finance private enterprises and expand activities to participate in share capital.

He said the government believes there is huge potential for diversification of the bank's loan portfolio.

The EBRD has delivered 134 loans worth 1.5 billion euros for the projects in Azerbaijan.

Recent EBRD activities in Azerbaijan include the first energy efficiency loan to a local bank, a loan to the largest domestic mineral water bottler, three credit lines for small businesses and a major road upgrade project.

Earlier, EBRD announced its interest in facilitating the consolidation of Azerbaijani banks, as Neil McKain said that the bank has already notified its partner banks and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) about its commitment to contribute to the consolidation process.

Also, the bank has voiced interest in financing the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) and the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) projects, designed to transport Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti said earlier that the bank was eyeing this possibility and discussing the prospects for cooperation in this area with the Azerbaijani government.