A new strategy and program on assistance to Azerbaijan in 2007-2010 will be approved at a Board of Directors of the Asian Development of Bank (ADB) by November 2006, Mettiew Westfall, the head of Baku office of ADB, told Trend. The discussions with the government over the evaluation of the strategy continue and a presentation of a report on private sector was held on Thursday in this respect.
The strategy is comprised of two parts financing of the public and private sectors. The ADB plans to allocate $187.5m for the public sector and $15m - for private sector over the subsequent 3 years. The initial forecasts say that the funds can be approved in the similar amount during the subsequent 3 years. Depending on talks the sum can be increased or reduce, he underlined.
$100m of the total $187.5m was allotted for road construction, $20m infantile growth of children, $10m social infrastructure, $40m recoverable energy sources. It is also planned to allocate funds for micro-crediting, but the concrete amount is unknown, as it is being discussed with the government, Mettiew underlined.
As of some sources, the bank is ready to allocate $100m for this project.
Different missions visit Azerbaijan to hold talks with the government with respect to define the priorities of the activities in the transport, social and energy sectors.
Philip Chang, a country economist at the ADB, who took his office in January 2005, will be involved in the development of a new strategy. Chang has an experince in developem of a regional strategy for South Asia.