Azerbaijan and Islamic Development Bank ink grant agreement

Baku. 18 January. REPORT.AZ/ Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev has today met with the Political Dialogue Mission, led by Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Vice-President Sayed Aqa, who is on visit to Baku.

Report informs citing the Ministry of Economy, in the meeting, Sh.Mustafayev stressed importance attached to cooperation of Azerbaijan with the Islamic Development Bank and other institutions of the IDB Group as well as high appreciation of the bank's support to Azerbaijan to develop private sector: "Azerbaijan attaches great importance to expansion of cooperation with Islamic countries and strengthening Islamic solidarity. Our head of state declared 2017 year as "A Year of Islamic Solidarity", IV Islamic Solidarity Games to be held in Baku this year".

IDB Vice-President S.Aqa expressed satisfaction with the visit, and cooperation of the bank with Azerbaijan, shared his views on possibility of expanding relations with Azerbaijan: "We will further actively participate in projects in Azerbaijan".

At the end of the meeting, the Azerbaijani government and IDB signed grant agreement (200 thousand USD) on technical assistance to develop a legal framework for Islamic financing in Azerbaijan. The document envisages analysis of the existing legislation in the Azerbaijani banking sector, study of possibilities to introduce Islamic banking in the country and preparation of appropriate proposals.