BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 19. Financing per se isn't the primary challenge for developing the Middle Corridor, but well-designed investment projects are essential to attracting greater investment, Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF), Ayumi Konishi, said at the 14th Islamic Development Bank Group Private Sector Forum, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.
"Over the past five and a half years, MCDF has organized 43 events attended by over 8,500 people from over 100 countries to disseminate knowledge on investing in transport connectivity infrastructure. The MCDF financial mechanism is a trust fund aimed at supporting project preparation and capacity building in infrastructure connectivity. Over five years, the fund has provided 67 grants totaling $86.2 million. These funds are expected to facilitate the attraction of $14.3 billion in infrastructure investment," he said.
Konishi emphasized that the MCDF does not work directly with beneficiary countries, but through partner international financial institutions, including the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, and several other organizations.
Speaking about projects in the region, Konishi reported that a $1.05 million grant was allocated to Azerbaijan for a feasibility study for the Caspian Green Energy Corridor project.
"Together with the Asian Development Bank's contribution, this constitutes a two-million-dollar feasibility study. At the end of June, the Darbaza-Maktaaral land railway project in Kazakhstan, which connects Kazakhstan with Uzbekistan and further across the Caspian Sea and Azerbaijan to Europe, was also approved. MCDF is additionally funding environmental and social studies, as well as legal support for the project. The key message is that financing is not a problem. The main shortcoming, particularly in mobilizing more resources for the Middle Corridor, is the lack of project proposals prepared for financing," said Konishi.
He added that there are many promising ideas, but investors will only be able to assess their potential once full project proposals are prepared.
"We are ready to assist countries and our partner institutions in developing the Middle Corridor," Konishi concluded.
