On 8 June, Azerbaijan’s Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) regional director for the Caucasus Catarina Bjorlin Hansen discussed the bank’s possible involvement in restoration of Azerbaijani controlled territories in Nagorno-Karabakh, reported Trend. 

The meeting focused on the priorities of the socio-economic development of Azerbaijan. The parties discussed the cooperation possibilities between the Azerbaijan Investment Holding, Entrepreneurship Development Fund, Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Fund, and the EBRD to achieve the set goals. The sides also discussed the development of the private sector in the country and projects to be implemented under the Ganja Green City program. 

During the online meeting of the two parties, Jabbarov said that there was a great potential to expand relations with the bank in various areas, especially in public-private partnership, on "green economy" and renewable energy. Hansen in return stressed that the EBRD was ready to continue supporting Azerbaijan’s economy. She emphasised the bank’s long-term cooperation with Azerbaijan, noting that the country's economic prospects have created conditions for the development of relations.

Earlier it was reported that the Bank plans to allocate € 10 million to the Azerbaijani government for the modernisation of waste collection infrastructure in Ganja city. In addition, the Bank is strengthening Azerbaijan’s agribusiness sector by providing a €25 million ($29.4M) loan to the country’s food and beverage producer Avrora LLC. Additionally, earlier this year the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) and the EBRD signed a $200 million swap agreement to ensure the financing of Azerbaijan’s real sector amid Covid-19 pandemic.

In its report for 2021, the EBRD highlighted three economic priorities in Azerbaijan, namely: 1) pursuing further governance reforms in the state sector; 2) shift financial sector regulation back to the central bank; and 3) the continued implementation of energy sector reforms (Caucasus Watch reported). Azerbaijan is the largest recipient of the EBRD funds in the Caucasus, as well as one of the largest recipients of this organization’s funds in the CIS and Eastern Europe. To date, the EBRD has invested $3.6 billion in Azerbaijan’s economy within 172 projects. The EBRD also provides business consulting services to small and medium enterprises and has provided technical support to improve the financial performance and development of more than 1,000 companies. The value of the current portfolio of projects supported by the EBRD in Azerbaijan is more than $1.3 billion.

To date, companies from Italy and Turkey are engaged in the restoration works in Nagorno-Karabakh (Caucasus Watch reported). In addition, French, UK, and US companies also highlighted their willingness to be engaged in restoration works (Caucasus Watch reported).  While presenting his vision of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev emphasised that the main areas of activity in the Azerbaijani-controlled territories of the region should be agriculture, agricultural processing and tourism and that Nagorno-Karabakh should serve as an example for the world as a green energy zone (Caucasus Watch reported).