BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 15. The flagship program of the International Islamic Trade and Finance Corporation (ITFC) "Trade Connect Central Asia+" (TCCA+) will contribute to the development of future cooperation between ITFC and Azerbaijan, Executive Director of ITFC, a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB Group), Hani Salem Sonbol told Trend.
He noted that the TCCA+ program is designed to achieve inclusive economic growth and regional economic cooperation.
“TCCA+ aims to connect Azerbaijan and Central Asian member countries to other Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) markets. The Trade Connect Central Asia+ program is designed to achieve inclusive economic growth, regional economic cooperation, and trade facilitation between the CIS OIC member countries and with the rest of the world. The flagship ITFC program is aimed at expanding and developing trade between six countries of the Central Asian region, namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. By leveraging the latent potential in regional markets, the Trade Connect Central Asia+ aims to unlock the latent potential of $600 million of intra-trade in the targeted region, over the next five years, as well as to create opportunities for trade and investment worth billions of dollars with other regions of the OIC,” he said.
The program aimed at increasing regional exports and diversifying the export base towards higher value-added products, the program will contribute to economic growth. ITFC hopes to launch this program early next year," said Sonbol.
In addition, Sonbol said that the TCCA+ program will improve production, facilitate regional trade by reducing the time and cost of crossing borders, expand regional business cooperation, and increase the competitiveness of the region by reforming trade policy and improving the efficiency of trade support institutions.
The International Islamic Trade and Finance Corporation is a member of the Islamic Development Bank Group, established with the main purpose of trade development.
In general, the IsDB Group maintains strong relations with Azerbaijan and aims to promote its socio-economic development. The group is implementing projects in Azerbaijan worth about $1.2 billion.
The portfolio includes financing in the amount of $956 million from the IDB, $120.2 million approved by ICD (Islamic Corporation for Private Sector Development), $83.4 million in ITFC trading operations, and $19.4 million in other funds and operations of the IsDB Group.
