BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 6. Multilateral
development banks (MDBs), particularly the EBRD, can help attract
long-term financing to Azerbaijan once the necessary technical,
institutional, and engineering components of projects are in place,
EBRD Deputy Director and Senior Banker Real Hajiyev said, Trend's correspondent
reports.
He made the remarks at the German-Azerbaijani Conference on
Strategic Partnership and Connectivity in Baku on Tuesday.
He said trade finance programs are suitable for meeting
short-term financing needs, while long-term financing first
requires projects to be technically, institutionally, and
engineering-wise sound.
“The first area is risk mitigation. This can be achieved through
blended finance, first-loss guarantees and investment grants for
projects that meet certain criteria and fall outside standard
requirements,” Hajiyev said.
According to the EBRD official, the second key area is
channeling long-term capital available in other countries and
financial centers to Azerbaijan through various mechanisms.
“Mechanisms such as A and B loans, syndication and other
financial instruments can be used here. The capital is abroad, and
I believe investment projects also exist in Azerbaijan. The key
issue is to connect the two,” he said.
Hajiyev emphasized that MDBs can serve as a bridge between
international capital and investment projects in Azerbaijan.
“MDBs can serve as a bridge between these two sides. The
objective is to connect long-term capital abroad with bankable
investment projects in Azerbaijan,” the EBRD official added.
