BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 16. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) hopes to publish the new Country Strategy for Azerbaijan soon, Elisabetta Falcetti, EBRD Managing Director for Türkiye and the Caucasus said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
"At this stage I need to be a bit general about the content of the next strategy, because we haven't yet published it, but I hope we will be able to publish it soon for a period of public consultation. I would definitely hope that before the end of the year we will publish it. We have received comments from our counterparts and are in the process of addressing those comments. Once we incorporate the comments, we will seek the EBRD board approval, and then we will publish it. I think it shouldn't be a revolutionary strategy in terms of content," said Falcetti.
The managing director highlighted that the existing strategy is focusing on three main themes.
"The first one is about supporting the competitiveness of the economy through innovation and better governance. The second is on green economy, which is, as I said, a key focus. And the third focus is on supporting the resilience, in particular of the financial sector. I think going forward the priorities will not look dramatically different. We will renew them, but I would expect green economy to remain an important topic. Supporting the diversification of the economy away from oil and the competitiveness of these businesses, including small businesses, will be an important topic," she added.
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