WB to support Azerbaijan in involvement of private investments
Keiko Honda, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank visited to Baku on December 18.
Keiko Honda, Executive Vice President and CEO of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank visited to Baku on December 18.
As part of her one-day visit to Baku, she met with partners of the World Bank Group in Azerbaijan to discuss overall cooperation and current projects.
The delegation was first received by President Ilham Aliyev, during which Honda hailed the World Bank's successful cooperation with Azerbaijan, saying the organization closely follows the economic reforms carried out in the country and highly appreciates the work done there.
Honda congratulated President Aliyev on what the country has done to cope with the economic difficulties and to achieve stability and development in the country. She emphasized the importance of Azerbaijan's achievements in economic development and in diversification of economy.
President Aliyev, for his part, praised the World Bank’s continued support for economic reforms carried out in Azerbaijan. The President noted the importance of the funds allocated to Azerbaijan by the organization.
The head of state hailed the fact that this year marks the 25th anniversary of Azerbaijan’s bilateral cooperation with the World Bank Group, underlining the significance of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency’s support for a number of vital investment projects implemented by foreign investors in Azerbaijan over the past years, including the globally important gas pipeline project Southern Gas Corridor.
President Aliyev noted that the Southern Gas Corridor project is of crucial importance not only to Azerbaijan, but also to a region covering a vast geography, including Europe.
Describing Azerbaijan as a financially capable reliable partner and as a country which has always fulfilled its commitments, Ilham Aliyev noted that the work on the TANAP project is being successfully implemented on schedule, and will be completed on time.
The President said that this year the Azerbaijani economy entered a period of stabilization: “If we do not take into account the oil factor in our economy, we can see that non-oil sector grew by 2.5 percent, while non-oil industry increased by more than 3 percent, and the agrarian sector by more than 4 percent. Despite the fact that the drop in the oil prices negatively affected the gross domestic product (GDP), the non-oil sector accounted for 70 percent of the GDP.”
He noted that the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor in the years to come, extension of the term of the Contract of the Century, additional investments and successful implementation of global transport projects give grounds to look optimistic about the prospects of the Azerbaijani economy.
They also exchanged views on prospects for Azerbaijan-MIGA bilateral cooperation. WB ready to guarantee investments in Azerbaijan’s new projects
Within the framework of her first visit to Baku, Honda gave an interview to Trend, saying that presently, the World Bank Group needs good profitable projects, which also correspond to the ecological and social standards of the bank.
“There are not many projects in the world that meet all these requirements,” she said. “One of the projects corresponding to these standards is Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project TANAP, which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor.”
The Bank has already delivered a loan guarantee for TANAP, she said, noting that the delegation arrived in Azerbaijan to once again demonstrate its support for this project and find new opportunities for cooperation.
She said that MIGA offers two different products, one of which is to guarantee investments in the public projects, while another product is to provide guarantees for private projects.
“We are already using the first tool within TANAP project,” Honda said. “As for the second tool, we can guarantee investments of various private companies entering the Azerbaijani market.”
With regard to potential spheres for cooperation with Azerbaijan, Honda added that MIGA can provide guarantees in various sectors including energy, transport, and manufacturing industry.
Azerbaijan joined the WB Group in 1992. In different years MIGA provided Azercell, Baku Coca-Cola Bottlers, Kocbank Azerbaijan (now YapiKredi Bank Azerbaijan) and other companies with loan guarantees within the cooperation.
The agency has recently provided a loan guarantee for the construction of TANAP, which is part of the Southern Gas Corridor. In 2017, MIGA supported private investments worth $4.7 billion in developing countries. Since 1998, MIGA has supported over 800 projects.