Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend I.Khalilova / The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) plans to increase its portfolio in Azerbaijan to $734mln by the end of 2007, Varel Freeman, the EBRD Vice President for Azerbaijan, said at the ceremony of the signing of an agreement with the Azerbaijani bank UniBank for a syndicated loan.
According to Freeman, this year the EBRD plans to allocate $130mln of its funds to finance 26 projects. However, the EBRD acts as organizer for attracting funds from foreign banks and these funds may be on a level of $300-400mln.
The EBRD is prepared to finance infrastructure projects and several opportunities for attracting funds were discussed at a meeting with the Azerbaijani President. "At the same time we considered opportunities for attracting EBRD funds for small and medium sized businesses at whole," Freeman said.
The EBRD is prepared to participate in the development of Azerbaijani railways, whilst the Vice President passed upon taking the final decision on financing the project of the construction of the Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku railway.