Azerbaijan, Baku, July 11 / Trend E.Ismayilov /
SOCAR will not invest on its own in a resort at the site of the former military base in Montenegro, which it acquired earlier, SOCAR head Rovnag Abdullayev told reporters on Wednesday.
He said this is a project to help the Azerbaijani business.
A number of Azerbaijani travel agencies wanted to enter the European market, however, was unable to do so. SOCAR has undertaken this initiative, and then will give the authority on lease to the Azerbaijani companies. They are assisted in the organizational and legal issues so that they could enter the European tourism market, Abdullayev said, without naming travel agencies.
Earlier Montenegro's Council for Privatization and Capital Projects said that, according to the contract with SOCAR, the company signed an agreement on long-term lease of the Orijen Battalion barracks in Kumbor for 90 years period. The tenant has the right to establish a local company in Montenegro, to which all rights and obligations under the lease agreement will be transferred. The company will take full responsibility for all liabilities.
The tenant has to invest at least 52 million euros in the resort's development during the first four years of the lease, or, in total, 258 million euros during the first eight years of the lease period.
The company will pay the rent for the first 45-year period upfront. After making the first part of investments worth 52 million euros, the lessee may assign the contract to a third party that is able to meet all financial obligations under the lease. Under the same conditions, SOCAR may be exempted from the guarantee for the obligations of local companies as tenants.