Azerbaijan, Baku, April 17 / Trend, A. Aknundov /
The Japanese government has allocated a grant worth 777 million yen or $7.45 million to Azerbaijan to upgrade the equipment for the reclamation and irrigation. The grant agreement was signed in Baku on Wednesday.
The relevant documents were signed by Japanese Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador to Azerbaijan Shusuke Watanabe and Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Abid Sharifov, as well as head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in Uzbekistan Masao Shikano and chairman of "Irrigation and Water Management" company Ahmed Ahmedzade.
The funds will be allocated within the total grant assistance program of the Japanese government.
Around 30 excavators, bulldozers and other equipment designed for reclamation and irrigation will be purchased for these funds.
Sharifov added that the project is important for the development of agriculture in the country.
"This is the second grant allocated by the Japanese government for the development of the agroindustrial complex," he said. "Japan allocated the first grant for land reclamation to Azerbaijan in 2004. This is a very important project, because we need the equipment to clean the canals in the regions, prevent soil salinity and so on. Finally all these measures will increase the productivity and production volumes."
He added that the main difference among JICA, other international financial institutions and donor agencies is that the organization does not only deliver the funds, but its experts regularly monitor how effectively these funds are spent.
"The Japanese government has provided Azerbaijan with thousands agricultural machines and helped us in the difficult period - the first years of independence," Sharifov said.
Taking into account a new grant, the Japanese government allocated the funds totaling 3.79 billion yen (about $ 34 million) to Azerbaijan within seven projects since 1999.