Azerbaijan, Baku, 21 February / corr. Trend S. Babayeva/ The Azerbaijani Government is determining its share in financing the third project to improve the system of education in Azerbaijan which will be implemented together with the World Bank, Misir Mardanov, the minister of education of Azerbaijan said.
"Discussions and negotiations in this regard are being held in the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education," he said.
According to the Minister, the overall cost of the project has not been determined as yet. The World Bank's share was initially determined at $40mln. The final talks with the Bank on this issue will be held in early March. The mission of the Bank headed by Juan Manuel Moreno, the senior specialist on education, will visit Azerbaijan in order to hold talks.
The key components of the project are the improvement of quality and management of education, work with pre-school nurses and vocational schools.
The Bank is prepared to grant $25mln worth of soft credit through the International Development Association. However, the Azerbaijani government's share will be determined during the talks, the Baku office of the Bank said.
It will be the third credit allocated to reform the education system of Azerbaijan.
The current project to develop the education system is targeted at the sector reforms on the basis of the reform program in education launched in 1999. The project aims to improve the quality of education. The overall cost of the project totals to $20,990,000 and the World Bank will credit $18mln of it. The first credit worth $5mln was granted by the Bank in 1999.