Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 May / Trend / The date of the third annual conference of Azerbaijan Credit Unions Association (ACUA) dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the organization was confirmed.
The ACUA release stated that the meeting would take place on 15-16 May, with financial support being provided by the US Agency for International Development, World Bank, East-West Management Institute and ACDI/VOCA ( United States).
The key topic of discussion will be the creation of academic credit unions (on the basis of universities) and the 5th anniversary of the Association.
The conference will be attended by experts from Harvard and Massachusetts Universities (US), as well as the chairmen of the League of Credit Unions of Russia and Association of Credit Unions of Kyrgyzstan and Lithuania.
The conference will also be attended by Ziyad Samedzade, chairman of the parliamentary commission for economic policy, Rufat Aslanly, director of the National Bank of Azerbaijan and representatives of the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture of the country, representatives of the State Agency for Agricultural Credits, USAID, ACDI/VOCA and other organizations.
A decision on ACUA membership in WOCCU (World Council of Credit Unions) is expected to be adopted at a regular annual congress of WOCCU, to be held in Hong Kong in July this year.
Currently ACUA unites 51 out of 78 credit unions operating in Azerbaijan. Today, AKIA implements the WB project on agricultural crediting in Azerbaijan in the framework of an agreement between the Ministries of Finance and Agriculture of the country, owing to which over 40,000 legal entities have already received credit.
The main purpose of ACUA is to promote the expansion of credit unions both on regional and international levels, encourage the creation of new unions, conduct training to improve quality of their work, restore contacts with donor organizations, protect the rights, lobby legislation, connected with activity of credit unions and others.