Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 20 /Trend U.Sadikhova/
In light of the banking agreement between the National Bank of Egypt and the Azerbaijani commercial bank UniBank, Cairo stands ready to study export operations in Azerbaijan, Egyptian Minister of International Cooperation, head of the Azerbaijani-Egyptian inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation, Faiza Abu Naja, told Trend.
"In particular, Cairo is prepared to provide privileges for the Azerbaijani importers in payments during the year through an immediate payment of the value of exported goods to the Egyptian exporters," said the minister.
According to the minister, despite the development of relations between the two countries since 2002, when the first meeting of the inter-governmental commission on economic cooperation was conducted, they are still on a limited level. "Today, there are a number of spheres of economic cooperation, to strengthen which both countries are working," said the minister.
Among them, she described the creation of a joint center for agricultural research in Azerbaijan's Ganja city according to the protocol signed in December 2007 in Baku, increasing the number of Egyptian medicinal products in Azerbaijan [today their number is 37 kinds of medicines]. Increasing the number of charter flights to Sharm el-Sheikh also promotes the cooperation between the two countries.
Amongst the priorities, the minister also described the cooperation in oil and mining industry through establishing a branch of Oil Academy in Egypt.
"It is also possible to establish bilateral cooperation based on agreements between Egypt and the EBRD for export to the country - the beneficiaries in Eastern Europe, as well as to exchange products in the Azerbaijani and Egyptian markets," said the minister.
Unibank became the first Azerbaijani bank, the shareholders of which included institutional investors such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the German Investment Corporation DEG. They own shares of 15.15 percent and 8.33 percent respectively. UniBank was formed through the merger of two commercial banks - MBank and Promtexbank, in 2002.
As one of the largest banks in the country, for its financial indicators, Unibank ranks amongst top ten leaders of the banking sector in Azerbaijan. Its authorized capital amounts to 36 million manat, and soon will reach 41.6 million manat.
Official rate on Sept. 20 is 0.8033 AZN/USD.