Baku, Azerbaijan, June 29
By Anvar Mammadov – Trend:
The International Finance Corporation (IFC, a member of the World Bank Group) is interested in supporting the development of Azerbaijan’s agricultural sector, Leah Soroka, manager of the IFC project “Development of funding of the agricultural sector in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”, told Trend.
Soroka said one of the ways would be increasing the access to loans, as well as increasing the number of financial institutions that can take risks in the sector.
The IFC can provide technical support to Azerbaijan in the creation of a strong system of agricultural insurance, she added.
The corporation’s main help can consist in coordinating the work of government, insurance companies, farmers and banks, for agricultural insurance to work and bring positive results, noted Soroka, adding that each country has a variety of opportunities and challenges, and the IFC has experience in this sphere.
The IFC initiative has been welcomed by the government and insurance sector of Azerbaijan, she added.
“It should be noted that the country’s government and insurance companies are interested in our support,” said Soroka. “Experts of the IFC visited Azerbaijan in November-December 2015, and conducted trainings for employees of insurance companies and the Azerbaijan Insurers Association.”
“During the trainings, we demonstrated how the agricultural insurance works,” she said. “We also held many different meetings at the state structures, where we discussed the prospects of development of the agricultural insurance in Azerbaijan.”
Earlier, Trend was told that proposals on the agricultural insurance had already been given to Azerbaijan’s Financial Market Supervisory Body.
Azerbaijan cooperates with the IFC since 1995. The corporation’s portfolio for Azerbaijan exceeds $400 million and these funds were allocated for implementation of more than 70 projects.