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WB provides financing for judicial system modernization

Business Materials 25 April 2011 16:07 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 25 / Trend N.Ismayilova /

The World Bank and the Azerbaijani government have specified the amount of extra funding that is needed to implement the judicial system modernization project.

"The total amount of additional funding for the project is $60 million, of which $28 million will be provided by the government and $32 million by the WB," the bank's office said.

The WB will extend the project by 2.5 years until late 2014.

According to the information, the project is expected to be considered by the WB Board of Directors on June 7.

The video conference was held with the participation of the project manager Klaus Decker to negotiate the project with the government in Azerbaijan on April 21-22.

A protocol was prepared as a result of the talks. It was submitted to the government for considering and signing.

The volume of additional funding provided by the World Bank will amount to $32 million, of which $8.6 million falls to the loan from the International Development Association (IDA).

The funds for concessional financing will be used from the credit of the previously cancelled WB project "Azerbaijan - Environment in Villages and Around Us". The total project cost of the project is $17.1 million. Roughly $8 million fell to the IDA credit, $5 million - to the Global Environment Fund and $2.72 million to the grant of the Japanese government.

Azerbaijan's share in the project amounted to $1.38 million.

The project consists of three main components -- its main purpose is to protect biodiversity in two mountainous regions; the second, natural resource management; the third, restoration of ecological health and the productivity of the forests of these areas. The WB said that part of the IDA loan allocated within the cancelled project, has been used.

The remaining part, worth about $7 million, will be redirected to additional funding for the project of modernizing the judicial system.

The total cost of the first project is 35.6 million. WB loans account for $21.6 million. The Japan Special Fund awarded a grant worth $3 million, while the share of the Azerbaijani government has provided $11 million. The project is designed for five years.

The project technically equipped the buildings of the Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Justice Ministry, and the Judicial and Legal Council.
The WB's share in the project was allocated by the International Development Association (IDA). The IDA conditions are standard- a 35-year term with a 10-year beneficial period and 0.75 percent annual rate.

Upon the expiration of the 10-year grace period, there would begin loan payments on 1.25 percent and from 2026 to 2041 years - 2.5 percent.

The WB Board of Directors approved the judicial system modernization project in Azerbaijan on June 29 2006.

The project consists of four components - to strengthening the management potential of legal institutions by creating a computerized management system, to increase the potential of courts, to strengthen the professionalism of judges through training, and to launch pilot civic awareness programs, improving citizens' access to information about registration and notary.

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