Baku, Azerbaijan, June 12
By Zulfiya Gurbanova -Trend:
The World Bank (WB) and the Azerbaijani government signed an agreement on allocation of a loan in the amount of $34.5 million for the implementation of the project to strengthen the competitiveness in agriculture.
The document was signed by the head of WB office in Baku Larisa Leshchenko and the Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov.
Under the loan agreement, the funds allocated for a period of 15 years with a grace period of four years and an annual interest rate of libor +0,85 percent.
The total cost of the project is $ 54.25 million, some $34.5 million of which will be provided by the loan allocated by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, part of the WB), and the remainder accounted for the government in the project.
The implementation term of the project is four years.
The project envisages strengthening of the competitiveness through the creation of production chains, starting from initial agricultural production to creation of logistics system on regions and some products. It is supposed to provide grants for the support of the production and processing enterprises and, if necessary, and credits to achieve the ultimate goal - the creation of the production chain," the bank said.
It is supposed to support the veterinary system within the project, also an important focus is to strengthening and the improvement of the phytosanitary standards and procedures, veterinary services within the framework of the project.
Azerbaijan has been a member of the World Bank since 1992.
Edited by CN