Azerbaijan, World Bank forge ahead new partnership strategy

By Azernews

By Zara Araz

Azerbaijan-World Bank cooperation with a history of more than twenty years, is moving forward, working on new strategies. Covering different sectors of Azerbaijan, the World Bank has allocated 4 billion US dollars in guaranteed loans for projects so far. The World Bank, which successfully completed 51 of 54 projects, spent 3.6 billion dollars. 511 million dollars have been allocated for the remaining 3 projects.

Furthermore, the Board of Directors of the World Bank plans to approve the new partnership strategy with Azerbaijan for 2025-2029 at the end of October.

"Consultations regarding this framework document were continued as part of today's visit to Baku by the delegation led by Rolanda Price, the director of the Bank for the South Caucasus," the Bank said.

The previous partnership strategy, approved in 2015, was developed taking into account the serious challenges facing Azerbaijan. It focused on supporting the country to achieve better performance in public financial management and economic diversification during the transition to a new growth model, as well as strengthening the country's resilience to external shocks.

But since 2020, the world has faced a new economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decrease in global demand for hydrocarbons has caused a sharp drop in the price of oil, which has had a negative impact on the economy of Azerbaijan, which remains heavily dependent on the oil sector.

Despite these difficulties, Azerbaijan shows its determination to make changes. The country sets ambitious goals for the transition to a "green" economy and the development of renewable energy sources.

The Bank's new partnership strategy with Azerbaijan is designed to support these goals. Two main projects have already been identified. The first of these is the expansion of Azerbaijan's employment support program: the World Bank plans to allocate an additional 150 million USD to this program, which aims to promote job creation and improve the skills of the workforce. The second project envisages the expansion of the use of renewable energy sources (AZURE). As part of this project, the Bank plans to allocate 250 million US dollars to support Azerbaijan's transition to a "green" economy through the development of wind and solar energy, according to preliminary estimates.

Discussions of other prospective areas of cooperation to be covered by the new strategy are still ongoing.

Recall that Azerbaijan has been a member of the World Bank since 1992, and joined the International Finance Corporation in 1995.