Azerbaijan, Baku, July 25 / Trend I. Khalilova /
State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan held a competitive bidding procedure aimed at selection of an audit company for auditing its financial statements for 2013-2015, SOFAZ said today.
Leading international audit companies represented in Azerbaijan were invited to participate in the bidding, which was organized in compliance with the procurement laws.
After the evaluation of the proposals presented by the bidding audit companies, pursuant to the Statutory Regulations of the State Oil Fund, Price Waterhouse Coopers was appointed as the auditor of the Fund's financial statements for 2013, 2014, 2015 by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Ernst & Young company was SOFAZ's auditor for the previous three years.
SOFAZ was established in 1999. Its assets hit $271 million during that period. As of 2012, SOFAZ assets reached $34.3 billion.
Under the company's policy, the funds may be used for construction and reconstruction of strategically important infrastructure projects, as well as for settlement of important national issues. From 2001 to 2009, special attention was focused on the development of both the oil sector and the infrastructure of the non-oil sector of the country as well. At present, SOFAZ funds a number of strategic projects in the field of irrigation and transport.
The main purposes of the fund are: the accumulation of funds and placement of the fund's assets abroad to minimise the negative impact on the economy and prevent 'Dutch syndrome', to ensure savings for future generations and to maintain the current socio-economic standards of the country.