Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 18
By Ilaha Mammadli - Trend:
The Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao will visit Baku on November 3-4, 2014, Director of the ADB Public Relations Department Omana Nair told Trend on Sept. 17.
"The main purpose of Nakao's visit to Azerbaijan is to discuss the country's preparation for an annual meeting of the bank's board of governors in Baku on May 2-5, 2015," she said.
Nakao traditionally visits the country chosen for holding the meeting of the ADB Board of Governors and discussing the organizational issues with the hosting country.
"This is also a great opportunity for discussing the cooperation prospects during the visit, given that Azerbaijan is ADB's important partner," she said.
She stressed that holding of such large-scale events will also have a positive impact on the image of the country. Around 4,000 guests, including finance ministers, heads of central banks, representatives of research institutions and other participants from 67 ADB member-states are expected to arrive in Azerbaijan. Around 45 conferences and workshops, high-level meetings are planned to be held as part of the annual meeting.
"This is a great opportunity to discuss a wide range of economic and socio-economic issues and investment prospects," she said.
Currently, Nair has no information on credit agreements that may be signed during Nakao's visit to Baku.
ADB was established in 1966 and has 67 members. The bank's headquarters is located in Manila, Philippines. Azerbaijan joined ADB on December 22, 1999. The country's share equity in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent. ADB's active credit portfolio in the country reached $1.637 billion.
ADB's leading shareholders are Japan and the United States (31.2 percent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 percent), Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent).