Azerbaijan, Baku, 29 May / corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ GUAM has offered a new format of development, and the banking sector of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova should be an engine for reaching strategic aims of increasing trade turnover from $4bln up to $10bln, Eldar Ismayilov, President of the Association of the Banks of Azerbaijan (ABA) said in a meeting with the head of the bank unions and bank representatives of these countries.
"The establishment of the regional bank system will contribute it and the selection of the exchange currency for the mutual operations is very important in this regard, which will enable to lower expenses caused by the fall in the rate of the dollar," Ismayilov said. "These expenses are small in small operations, but it can lead to serious losses in the operations on the regional level," he said.
Apart from the joint study of the inflow of money, it is very important to strengthen work with the sectoral structures of the country's economy. According to Ismayilov, bankers should help entrepreneurs and state bodies to finance priority projects.
"The bank associations should assume the function of organizing annual conferences in order to conduct studies and prepare skilled workers," the head of the ABA said.
"The recognition of GUAM as an international organization by the Unites Nations gives grounds to start realizing the concrete projects within the Organization, and the main task of the bank system is the active participation in investing," Ismayilov stated.
There is an agreement amongst the bank associations of GUAM on cooperation, and the coordination of the banks to develop joint projects should be strengthened within the Coordinating Council- which will enable to confirm the reality of this structure.
According to the President of the Association of Banks of Georgia Zurab Gvasalia, establishment of the Coordinating Council will help banks to create an export space for banking as it is difficult to realize projects without the banks and direct correspondent relations.
According to President of the Association of Banks of Ukraine Oleksandra Sugoyanko, the coordination of the associations' work is vital to change the work of associations especially during the world financial crisis.
"The Coordinating Council will lay the foundation of the further development and integration of the banking system whose role will be promoted, due to the plans to realize energy and transport projects among countries and development of the regional corporation," Dumitri Ursu, the President of the Association of Banks of Moldova said.
Four pot-Soviet republics; Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova, established the GUAM format in 1997 during a summit of presidents of European Union countries in Strasburg. In 1999, Uzbekistan joined the organization but left four years later. In 2006, at the first summit of the organization in Kiev a decision was made to announce GUAM as an international organization with a new name; Organization for Democracy and Economic Development - GUAM.
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