Baku, Azerbaijan, March 7
By Sara Israfilbayova – Trend:
Development of small and medium-sized enterprises is the engine for the further development of Azerbaijan's economy, Mercy Tembon, the World Bank’s (WB) Regional Director for the South Caucasus, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.
Tembon said that the WB is ready to support Azerbaijan in this direction by all means.
According to the WB regional director, it is very important to develop entrepreneurship and agriculture, where the country has a great potential, but development of infrastructure and reconstruction of roads also play a significant role.
“Development of infrastructure and reconstruction of roads are important for entrepreneurs and manufacturers to bring their goods to both local and foreign markets,” she said.
Currently, as Tembon stressed, the bank mainly focuses on development of the non-oil sector of Azerbaijan's economy.
She also mentioned that the bank cooperates with Azerbaijan in different directions and eager to continue this cooperation.
Azerbaijan joined the World Bank Group in 1992. During this period, the bank allocated loans for the implementation of over 50 projects in the country worth over $3 billion. Seven more projects worth about $1.5 billion are being implemented.
Besides the loans, WB allocated 45 grants to Azerbaijan totaling $41.586 million in 1995-2014.
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