Government issues 63.3M manat in concessional loans in 1H17

Azerbaijan is working on the creation of 38 agrarian parks, the total cost of which is 207 million manats ($121.7 million). Economy Minister Shahin Mustafayev made the remarks at an expanded meeting of the ministry's board, dedicated to the results of the first half of 2017.

The Minister stressed that the agro-parks are being created in Samukh, Goranboy, Aghjabadi, Shabran, Salyan, Shamakhi, Fizuli, Jalilabad and Ismayilly districts, to the establishment of which the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support (NFES) allocated 76.1 million manats ($44.7 million).

He went on to say that currently, 14 modern livestock complexes with total area of 37,300 square meters are being built in 12 regions of the country, 24 large grain farms with total area of 120,300 hectares in 17 regions, 32 large farms with a total area of 44,000 square meters in 20 regions.

Addressing the meeting Mustafayev noted that in just 6 months the NFES issued concessional loans in the amount of 63.3 million manats ($37.2 million) to 690 entrepreneurs, adding that investment projects, which will be implemented at the expense of these funds, will help to open more than 2,300 new jobs.

To date, more than 33,500 entrepreneurs received concessional loans in the amount of more than 2 billion manats ($1.2 billion).

Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, in turn, noted the important role of Azerbaijan in ensuring energy security of Europe and expressed Hungary's interest in import of Azerbaijani gas.

Szijjarto also emphasized the successful activity of Hungarian companies in Azerbaijan, noting that the partners of Hungary from Western Europe are competing for the Azerbaijani market.

Both sides expressed interest in developing cooperation in such spheres as transport, agriculture, industry, education, pharmaceuticals and others.

During the meeting, the ministers also discussed the preparations for highest-level negotiations and for the next meeting of the intergovernmental trade-economic cooperation commission.

Later in the day, minister Mammadyarov met with Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary Janos Latorcai and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Zsolt Nemeth.

They praised strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and Hungary, saying the two nations have deep historical roots. The parties stressed the role of reciprocal visits in development of bilateral bonds and discussed a number of issues at the meeting.

Among the South Caucasus countries, Hungary has the highest trade turnover with Azerbaijan. To be more exact, over 50 percent of the Hungarian trade with the South Caucasus region accounts for Azerbaijan. Last year, the trade turnover between two countries amounted to more than $50 million.