Azerbaijan, Baku, April 20 / Trend N.Ismayilova /
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is interested in expanding the financing of Azerbaijan's real sector, BSTDB president Andrei Kondakov told Trend.
"Today, the share of transactions with local banks dominated, reaching close to 100 percent. A similar situation is observed in the neighboring countries of Transcaucasia. We know Azerbaijani banks have already established good relations with many of them and we plan to develop and strengthen these ties. However, we would also like to diversify our loan portfolio in Azerbaijan and find projects in the real sector. It would be ideal to move on the ratio of the banking and real sectors with a 50 - 50 proportion," Kondakov said.
Kondakov said BSTDB has already received proposals from several companies, including the Azerbaijan Investment Company. Proposals seemed fairly interesting and cover areas such as agribusiness and energy, and also include alternative, construction and environmental protection.
"Our bankers are now actively working on them. We hope that some of them will be financed soon," he added.
Yet, the bank's only projects in the real sector are the Bridge Plaza business center, for which BSTDB allocated 4 million euro, and a joint project with the International Bank of Azerbaijan to finance the construction of a glass factory (5 million euro).
We would like to expand our presence in the real sector, particularly in infrastructure, energy, development of small and medium business, trade finance, agribusiness, manufacturing and ICT," he said.
The bank has financed 20 projects worth 100 million euros for 11 years in Azerbaijan. The country's share in the bank's loan portfolio is 5 percent.
BSTDB has been working since June 1, 1999. The Bank supports the principles of regional cooperation and is involved in financing projects in member countries and in equity.
Today, Greece, Russia and Turkey remain the largest shareholders with stakes of 16.5 percent each, Romania owns 14 percent, Bulgaria and Ukraine - 13.5 percent each, Azerbaijan - 5 percent, Albania - 2 percent, Armenia and Moldova - one percent each, and Georgia - 0.5 percent.
The managers of the Black Sea Bank from the Azerbaijani side are Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev and his deputy, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov.