BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 18. In the next strategy period the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) will prepare a new country strategy for Azerbaijan, President of BSTDB Serhat Köksal said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
“Amid the on-going war in Ukraine and its impact on the Bank, we have prioritized consolidating our portfolio to protect the interest of our shareholders- a goal we have successfully achieved. However, the focus on consolidation led to a slowdown in new project development throughout 2022, 2023, and the first half of 2024. Only in the second half of 2024 have we picked up our activity again, with a view to increasing the momentum in 2025-26. This temporary decline in new project activity has rendered the preparation of individual country strategies less important and therefore the Bank has adopted a more synoptic view as it re-expands project activities. We do expect that as we return to normal, in the next strategy period from 2026-2030 we will prepare country strategies for all our member countries where it is possible to conduct business, including of course Azerbaijan,” said Köksal.
He went on to add that the new country strategy for Azerbaijan will take into account by all means its climate priorities.
“Azerbaijan has signed and duly ratified the Paris Agreement by committing through its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to reduce emissions and limit global temperature rise. Its NDC outlines the country’s emission reduction target, the national socio-economic climate priorities, the most vulnerable sectors, what mitigation and adaptation actions are necessary to meet said target, and what financing is required in this respect. Therefore, by including the climate commitments into the country strategy BSTDB will align its financing priorities with the NDC of Azerbaijan which, we believe will play an important role in supporting the country in meeting its climate mitigation and adaptation targets and will add more relevance to our mandate fulfilment,” said the BSTDB president.
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