BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 7. The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (ICIEC) has provided insurance coverage in Azerbaijan totaling approximately $120 million over five years, Yasser Alaki, Director of the Business Development Department at ICIEC, said during a presentation in Baku dedicated to the preparations for the Islamic Development Bank Group's Annual Meeting, Trend reports.
"ICIEC insures Azerbaijan's investments and exports, reducing risks and expanding access to international financing. The Corporation supports and facilitates trade between member countries, as well as between our member states and the rest of the world, by providing investment and trade credit insurance services to protect investors and exporters from the risk of non-payment by their counterparties anywhere in the world.
Speaking of Azerbaijan, our role is to help Azerbaijani exporters supply products to any country in the world, while we assume the risk of non-payment by their buyers.
Thus, Azerbaijani exporters no longer need to demand additional guarantees or letters of credit from importers. Based on our assessment of buyer risks worldwide and our credit information system, we can provide insurance coverage that protects them against the risk of non-payment.
We also stimulate investment in Azerbaijan from any country in the world - not necessarily only from member countries - by providing insurance for political and country risks, including war, civil unrest, expropriation, and other risks," he said.
According to him, this increases the confidence of investors and international banks financing projects in Azerbaijan.
"We have a wide range of services: insurance for supplier-exporters, insurance for unconfirmed letters of credit for Azerbaijani banks, trade finance for imports and exports, as well as investment insurance.
Our beneficiaries are banks and financial institutions, corporations, exporters and importers, as well as government agencies to which we provide insurance support," the director added.
He noted that Azerbaijan joined ICIEC in 2020.
"Since our founding in 1994, we have covered approximately $140 billion USD, including $31 billion in investment insurance and $107 billion in trade insurance.
In Azerbaijan over the past five years, we have covered about $120 million, of which $36 million is for investment insurance and $83 million is for trade insurance.
One of the projects involves insurance coverage for a Chinese telecommunications company that implemented a project in Azerbaijan. We provided insurance coverage that helped them attract financing from Chinese banks.
We also support small and medium-sized enterprises, including through financing lines from international banks to Azerbaijani banks, the funds of which are directed to the SME sector.
In addition, we provided a financing line to the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank to support small and medium-sized businesses in Albania, Azerbaijan, and Türkiye," he added.
According to Alaki, there are also projects in Nigeria, as well as large infrastructure projects, including a high-speed railway in Türkiye, where ICIEC covered the risks of non-performance of sovereign obligations.
"We also work with sovereign obligation risks in Turkmenistan and implement projects in Uzbekistan.
We cooperate with export credit agencies, insurance companies, and international financial institutions, as well as with most international banks, European, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, and Gulf countries' banks.
We support their financing in Azerbaijan and other member countries," he concluded.
