Azerbaijan, Baku, July 31 / Trend /
The partnership strategy project between the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Azerbaijan supports the goals of the "Azerbaijan 2020: A look into the future" concept, Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Khagani Abdullayev said at a meeting with an ADB delegation, headed by Director of Regional Cooperation and Operations Coordination Department Vicky Tan, on Wednesday.
The development of cashless payments, microfinance in the banking sector and bilateral economic cooperation were discussed at the meeting.
Representatives of the Asian Development Bank stressed the successful cooperation with the Azerbaijani banking sector and expressed their intention to continue these relations in the future. The current state of relations between the ADB and the CBA and the prospects for their future development were also discussed.
ADB's new strategy will cover 2014-2018.
The bank can begin funding new areas such as solid waste management, alternative and renewable sources of energy, modernization of railway transport and urban public transport within the new strategy.
At present, ADB has seven active projects in Azerbaijan. Its current portfolio hits $990 million. Around 46 percent of the portfolio fall to the transport sector, 16 percent - the energy sector, 36 percent - urban services, that is, improvement of water supply, sewerage system and so on.
The bank approved the projects worth $ 250 million in 2012. All of them were in the public sector.
According to the bank's updated business plan on operations in Azerbaijan for 2012-2014, the total amount of funding for ADB approved projects in Azerbaijan in this period will hit $ 575 million. The projects approved within the business plan, as expected, demanded $ 250 million in 2012, $ 155 million - in 2013, $ 170 million - in 2014.
The bank plans to allocate $ 155 million of ordinary funds annually during 2012-2014. In case of need, the possibility of additional resource delivery for financing and co-financing will be considered. The bank plans to allocate $3.25 million within technical assistance in 2012-2014.
The ADB was established in 1966 and has 67 members. The headquarters of the bank is located in the capital of the Philippines, Manila. Azerbaijan became a member of the Asian Development Bank on December 22, 1999. The country's participation share in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent.
The ADB's leading shareholders are Japan and the US (31.2 percent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 percent), and Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent).