Thomas Mirow, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has given a press conference on his visit to Baku.
He told journalists yesterday that he had met Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Finance Minister Samir Sharifov and Central Bank Chairman Elman Rustamov. After the press conference, he was due to meet Economic Development Minister Shahin Mustafayev.
Mirow said the EBRD had financed 100 projects in Azerbaijan to the tune of 1.4bn euros. Last year, the bank allocated 230m euros to Azerbaijan, including 120m to Garadagh Cement.
This year the bank is to allocate $100-200m to finance and real estate projects.
Mirow said the EBRD was ready to help the consolidation of banks in Azerbaijan, if its purpose and procedure were clear.
'Much will depend in the consolidation process on the conditions set by the Central Bank. Only when we know this will we be able to assess our possible assistance in the process. The process requires an individual approach to every bank,' Mirow said.
The Central Bank has said that it would like to see 15-20 banks in the country, rather than the 46 operating at present, but that consolidation will be be a long-term process.
'The consolidation of the banks will tackle the problem of the quality of assets and risk assessment for Azerbaijan's banks,' Mirow said.
He said he had discussed with the government Azerbaijan's involvement in the Nabucco project to build a gas pipeline from the Caspian region to Europe via Turkey.
'If Azerbaijan puts forward an initiative to participate in the project we are ready to back it and I told the government this today. Nabucco is a large and difficult project, political risks have to be taken into account to ensure its stability. The EBRD is consulting on this with many parties in the project,' Mirow said.