Details added (first version posted at 11:14).
Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 15
Trend:
A business forum was held on the sidelines of the 7th Summit of the Turkic Council in Baku on Oct. 14, Trend reports referring to the Azerbaijani Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
The event was attended by representatives of relevant state and private structures, businessmen from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Hungary.
Speaking at the forum, the Chairman of the Azerbaijani Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Orkhan Mammadov noted that thanks to successful reforms conducted under the leadership of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, the role of small and medium-sized enterprises is growing in the country's economy and they are actively involved in economic processes.
Informing about the activities of the agency, Mammadov stressed that special attention is paid to the application of the best international experience, therefore the agency is interested in establishing cooperation with the Turkic Council members.
Special importance was given to the fact that over 3,000 companies of the countries represented at the forum are operating in Azerbaijan. It was emphasized that this creates great opportunities for implementing joint projects.
The agency has already established cooperation with a number of the Turkic Council members, having joined the Memorandum of Understanding between the major state structures for SMEs of the Turkic Council members, signed in 2015. A Memorandum of Understanding was also signed with the Kazakhstan's "DAMU" Entrepreneurship Development Fund and the Turkey's Small and Medium Industry Development Organization (KOSGEB).
On the sidelines of the business forum, the agency signed a protocol of intent for cooperation with Azerbaijani branch of Turkey's Ziraat Bank and the Export Credit Bank of Turkey (TurkEximbank), as well as memoranda of understanding with the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), the Turkish Participation Banks Association (TKBB) and Uzbekistan's Agency for the Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.
As reported, the signed documents will create excellent opportunities for cooperation between the Azerbaijani agency and the relevant structures of Turkey, Uzbekistan and Hungary. Thanks to joint efforts, mutual useful projects for SMEs will be implemented.