Azerbaijan, Baku, 5 March / corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ The Board of Trustees of the Export and Investment Promotion Fund of Azerbaijan (AZPROMO) approved of the action plan for 2008 in its first meeting of 2008. An Information Business Center on the basis of the Export Center and Joint Venture Program is expected to be established in the course of 2008, AZPROMO said.
The fund aims at promoting the brand "Product of Azerbaijan" in border countries. AZPROMO plans to change its beneficiary category into partner category in cooperation with international organizations. Key priorities of the development of the export operation are Turkmenistan and Georgia with which the fund plans to expand cooperation.
The Board of Trustees also decided to expand the list of members by 13. Its membership totals 107 at present. Membership fees were also raised. Permanent members of the fund have paid AZN 2,500 annually up to now. Government bodies are exempt from these fees.
The Board of Trustees approved the budget for 2008. The AZPROMO budget will grow by 25-30% to $1mln because of the diversification of activities. The budget for operational expenditure totaled $0.7mln in 2007. Some 55% of the financing of the fund came from the government, 20% from international finance organizations and the remaining 25% - from private business.
AZPROMO held 50 international events in 15 countries of the world in 2007 and an agreement worth 60mln euros was signed during these events.
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