Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 6 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
Vice-president of the German development bank KfW Eva Witt will visit Azerbaijan in late January - early February, KfW Baku office told Trend on Friday.
"The delegation, headed by vice-president of the bank Eva Witt, also includes new manager on KfW financial projects in Azerbaijan Kurt Strasser," the bank said.
KfW Baku office said several meetings will be held in the government within the visit to discuss the current level of cooperation. In particular, the acceleration of the operations on the project to support small and medium businesses, which will be funded by third soft loan worth 5 million euros, and the second phase of the project on agricultural financing of rural areas in Azerbaijan will be considered. It is planned to conclude the agreement with Turanbank.
The bank intends to give a loan to implement the project to support small and medium enterprises in the country in national currency and to take the risk of exchange rate changes. Like the previous two loans, KfW will give the third loan on preferential terms - 40 years with a grace period of ten years at an annual rate of 0.75 percent. These funds, like the first two loans are designed to finance small and middle entrepreneurship in the German-Azerbaijan Fund.
The bank plans to allocate 3 million euros to finance the second phase of the project on agricultural financing of rural areas in Azerbaijan. The cost of the first phase of the project was five million euros. About 3.5 million euros were distributed. The remaining funds were intended for another bank. In particular, the negotiations were conducted with Demirbank, but they were stopped. ParaBank was also considered. But Turanbank was chosen. It will get the loan within the second phase of the project.
Azerbaijan has been cooperating with KfW since 1994. The strategic areas of the activity are to restore energy, water and other infrastructure, to support the development of financial and banking sectors, the private sector, health, etc.