Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I. Khalilova / The visit of Varel Freeman, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Vice President, on 30-31 October will see two notable events. He will participate in the ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of Azerbaijan's Micro Finance Bank's activities in Azerbaijan [ЕERD holds a 20% share in the bank] and the signing of a credit agreement with UniBank, the Baku office of the bank said.
This is Freeman's first visit to Azerbaijan. It will be paid as part of a tour of the Caucasus and he will leave Azerbaijan for Georgia. The mission will also include the EBRD Director for the Caucasus, Moldova, and Belarus, Mike Davey, and senior political adviser Mahir Babayev.
During the visit, the EBRD will confirm Azerbaijan's intention of rendering long-term support to the economic development of the country. The EBRD mission will continue a dialogue with the Azerbaijani Government, as well as pursue further directions of cooperation.
The EBRD displays an interest in the implementation of projects directed at the development of the private sector and regions. Key attention is paid to EBRD's participation in the development of the transport sector of Azerbaijan. The EBRD has taken an interest in financing the project on construction of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway. All these directions were included in the protocol of talks signed between Heydar Babayev, the Azerbaijani Minister for Economic Development, and Olivia Dekam, the Director of the EBRD Business group, at the annual meeting of the Bank in Kazan, Russia in May 2007.
The EBRD is also participating in financing a project on replacing an international trade port out of the capital to Alat.
As of 30 June, within the framework of a previous strategy on Azerbaijan for 2005-2007, the EBRD invested €125.2mln in two projects in the transport sphere.