BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 3. The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) has expressed desire to be a part of reconstruction in Azerbaijan's Karabakh, Chairman of the Islamic Development Bank Group H.E. Dr. Muhammad Sulaiman Al Jasser said in an exclusive interview with Trend in Baku.
"The authorities gave us a chance to visit Karabakh, the city of Shusha, which is, as I understand, a very important cultural center in Azerbaijan. We saw what was happening there and the reconstruction. We expressed our sincere desire to be part of that reconstruction. They promised that they will share with us the list projects that have priority. We look forward to our technical people to sit together and come up with something that we can finance. We are ready, we are determined and we are encouraged by what we see," said the IsDB Group chairman.
Al Jasser said he is very happy to be here in Azerbaijan to witness the great economic development that is taking place in one of the IsDB member countries.
"We have 57 member countries and one of them is Azerbaijan. Whatever achievements happen in one country is a source of pride for us. Second, we wanted to come and share with the authorities what we can help with also. Because you are going through tremendous amount of development and reconstruction also, restoration culturally and in every sense of the word. So, that’s something that we really like to be involved in," he said.
Al Jasser pointed out that there is a lot that the IsDB has done also in the past.
"As you know, the Islamic Development Bank has done about $1.2 billion of projects in Azerbaijan and we are very proud of it. Yesterday I visited the waste to energy plant, which is very important in terms of environmental protection, but at the same time the production of energy and rehabilitation in the region, which was not in a very good way. So, we would like to find quality projects that really make a big difference in the lives of the Azerbaijani people. We were lucky. We had a wonderful meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, who gave us a lot of his time and explained in minute details what he has done and what he is planning to do. To us, to see a leadership that is so engaged with the economic issues in spite of the other concerns that he has to deal with is encouraging and makes us more determined to look for projects.
We talked with the relevant ministries and ministers, minister of economy, who is our governor, minister of finance, minister of digital development, the chairman of the state oil company (SOCAR). We met to see what are their needs and we have agreed that we will have focal points. People from our side and their side will sit and go over the list of the projects that are important for the country and find common ground, where we can finance. Visiting Azerbaijan gives us a great hope, because you have done so much in such a short period of time with very high quality. This is very attractive to any financer," he said.
Ongoing and future projects in Azerbaijan
"As I mentioned, we have had projects of around $1.2 billion. Most of them, 70 projects have already been completed. I mentioned one of them – the waste to energy project. There are other projects in the electric power. For example, in energy, we have 40 percent of our lending, 30 percent is in the transport and then about 20 percent in agriculture. They are very focused on areas that have high value added for the economy immediately, connecting parts of the country. This is very important," he said.
Al Jasser pointed out that the IsDB is also looking at projects to supply energy resources from Azerbaijan, including electricity through Türkiye to Europe.
"This is a grand design, and we think it deserves support especially with the chaotic situation of the energy markets these days when it is required not to invest in fossil fuels and then they ask you to produce more. How could you do that? You can only do one of the two. But your oil policy seems to understand these complexities and is navigating very well and we are happy to help in this area," he explained.
Global projects and initiatives
"Globally, we have 57 member countries and most of them are very poor; 21 of them are least developed, 27 of them are in Africa. So, we have to be cognizant of developments in the global economy in order to be helpful. For example, when the COVID-19 hit, we had to come quickly to the creation of our program of fast disbursing to the member countries to get the vaccines and the medical supplies. That program was about $4.5 billion and it helped a lot of countries, including in Azerbaijan they benefited from that. Then, the Ukraine crisis happened and food prices went up significantly in many countries. We also came together and put a program of $10.5 billion to help countries first to restoke their grains in silos, so that people have something to eat. Two-thirds of the amount was really to encourage agriculture so people can depend on themselves, stay on the land, hopefully, produce more food and send to the cities where industrialization is taking place. That is the essence of development," he said.
Al Jasser went on to add that the whole world is worried about climate change also.
"So, we have with the other development institutions put together a package of $24 billion to finance climate-related projects, to mitigate, to adapt to climate changes. The IsDB alone put $13 billion out of the $24 billion. We are very much engaged with the members to see where their needs are and to be there for them when they need it. Azerbaijan is an important member and we are proud of the membership, proud of the participation, but we are looking for new projects to finance and engage in a much greater way," he concluded.
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