BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 17. More than $1.35
billion in credit lines were allocated to support SMEs, the CEO of
the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), Adeeb
Alaama, said, Trend's correspondent reports from the event.


He made the remark at the panel titled "CEO's session on making
regional integration attractive for investment: promoting trade,
mobilizing investment and systematically de-risking growth" held
within the framework of the 51st Annual Meeting of the Islamic
Development Bank (IsDB) Group in Baku.


According to him, SMEs face serious difficulties both in
accessing financial resources and in exporting their products to
global markets.


Alaama pointed out that the organization's main priority is to
solve two major problems faced by SMEs.


"One of the biggest challenges for SMEs is access to capital. At
the same time, the second main problem is to export their products
to global markets," he explained.


The ITFC head noted that in order to solve these problems,
cooperation is being carried out with local banks, and credit lines
are being provided to them.


"We work with local banks around the world and allocate credit
lines to them. These banks then direct these funds to where they
are most needed, especially the private sector and SMEs," he
shared.







Alaama added that the organization is not limited to financing,
but also supports SMEs in project preparation and transformation
into bankable initiatives.


"We help SMEs transform their ideas into bankable projects and
then export them to global markets," he also said.


According to the head of ITFC, the volume of credit lines
provided in 2025 exceeded $1.35 billion and work in this direction
will continue.


He also mentioned a number of regional programs. These include
the Arab Africa Trade Bridges, AFTIAS (Arab Aid for Trade
Initiative for Arab States), and the Trade Connect Central Asia
Plus (TCCAP) program. Within the framework of TCCAP, Azerbaijan
also participates as a "Plus" country.


Alaama emphasized that supporting the private sector, and SMEs
in particular, is one of the main priorities in the organization's
new five-year strategy.


"Currently, we are working with hundreds of enterprises, but in
the coming years, our goal is to reach thousands of SMEs. This
approach will be implemented both through financing and expanding
access to markets," he concluded.