Business news from Ukraine

EBRD doubles financing for projects in Azerbaijan in 2023

BAKU. Feb 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provided loans totaling 156 million euros in 2023 for implementing two projects in Azerbaijan, the EBRD told Interfax.

The EBRD allocated loans totaling 86 million euros in 2022 to finance nine projects in Azerbaijan, meaning that the bank boosted the volume of financing 1.8-fold in 2023.

The EBRD allocated 310 million euros overall to finance 30 projects in the public and private sectors of Azerbaijan in 2019-2023.

As previously reported, the EBRD plans to allocate $750 million in 2023-2025 in order to implement projects in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan has been a member of the EBRD since 1992, during which time the EBRD has allocated 3.62 billion euros to finance 189 projects in the country. The bank’s current portfolio in the country totaled 897 million euros for 31 projects at the beginning of 2024, with 90% in infrastructure, 7% in industry and agriculture, and 3% in the financial sector.

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Ilham Aliyev says he is ready for “fair peace” with Armenia

Azerbaijan has been waiting for more than two months for a response from Armenia to official Baku’s comments on the proposal for a peace treaty, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said.

“We are waiting for Armenia to respond to our comments on the proposal. We have exchanged proposals on the draft peace treaty several times, but now we have been waiting for more than two months, since September 11, for the Armenian government to respond to us. We want to know their opinion on these comments. But we have not received a response,” Aliyev said in a press statement on Monday.

The Azerbaijani head of state emphasized that the reason is that Armenia “receives bad advice,” in particular from France.

“France plays a very destructive role in the South Caucasus. In fact, Armenia has become a puppet of the French government, and this can pose a serious threat to regional stability,” Aliyev said.

He reiterated that Azerbaijan “does not need any war”. “We fought on our territory, restored justice and international law. But the Armenian government and political establishment are thinking about revenge. And the wrong messages of the French government actually create illusions in the Armenian government, and perhaps in the Armenian public opinion,” that they can launch military aggression against Azerbaijan, the president said.

He emphasized that Azerbaijan is ready for peace. “We are ready for peace, but a just peace based on the recognition of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of both countries. Peace based on common sense and historical justice,” Aliyev said. Earlier, the Experts Club analyzed the political and economic situation in the Caucasus. You can learn more about the prospects for the development of Transcaucasia after the end of the Karabakh conflict in the video on the Experts club channel here: https://youtu.be/reyUMjFBFhU

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Experts analyzed the situation in the Caucasus after end of Karabakh conflict

After Azerbaijan established control over the former Nagorno-Karabakh, the Transcaucasus region entered a new era, where the political and economic prospects of the countries of the region became a subject of discussion in the international arena. In light of this, experts from various countries are analyzing the current situation and trying to predict the future of relations between the countries in the region. A new video published on the YouTube channel “Experts club” was devoted to this very topic, in which Azerbaijani military analyst, leading expert of the analytical center “STEM” Agil Rustamzadeh and the founder of the Kiev analytical center “Experts club”, candidate of economic sciences Maxim Urakin shared their opinion on the situation.

Military-political aspect

The experts emphasize the importance of the reached mutual understanding on the Karabakh issue.

“The resolution of the conflict has created a basis for the resumption of diplomatic dialog and economic cooperation between the countries of the Transcaucasus. Azerbaijan’s confrontation with Armenia is conditioned not only by the Karabakh conflict, the point is that those people who created this geopolitical paradigm were engaged in shaping the worldview of the Armenian population. A part of the Armenian population still believes that they once had a state that included the territories of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia. With the emergence of Western institutions and the change of Armenians’ views, they begin to realize that enmity with such a geopolitical player as Turkey is a dead-end way of the country’s development. It is a way to nowhere, especially when these countries have no territorial claims to you, but you have territorial claims to your neighbors,” Rustamzadeh stressed.

The expert also notes that the signing of a possible peace treaty will give Armenia an impetus to move to a new level of development, will allow it to become not an object but a subject of international politics.

“I meet such an opinion both in Azerbaijan and Turkish colleagues. It is that under certain changes Turkey and Azerbaijan can become the guarantor of Armenia’s territorial integrity. Therefore, I believe that with the pragmatism shown by the Armenian people, the government and the political elite of Armenia, Armenia has chances to become a pro-Western democratic country,” Rustamzadeh said.

In his opinion, in order to ensure long-term stability, it is necessary to analyze all aspects of the conflict and its consequences for regional security.

Economic aspect

Maxim Urakin emphasized the economic sphere of relations between the countries of the region.

“Economy and politics are closely linked, and trade relations between the countries of the Transcaucasus play an important role in shaping the political landscape of the region,” Urakin noted.

The expert also drew attention to how export destinations affect the countries’ political preferences.

“Most of Azerbaijan and Iran’s exports are directed to Europe and Asia, while Turkey’s exports are much more diversified,” the economist emphasized.

Urakin also analyzed each country’s exports and their trade relations in detail, emphasizing the interconnectedness of economic and political factors in the region.

Development Prospects

Rustamzadeh and Urakin agree that further sustainable development of the region requires further work to resolve the remaining conflict situations and increase economic cooperation between the countries.

“Restoring trust and strengthening economic ties between the countries of the Transcaucasus will contribute to the creation of a favorable climate for investment and growth of the regional economy,” Rustamzadeh concluded.

You can learn more about the prospects of development of the Transcaucasus after the end of the Karabakh conflict from the video on the Experts club channel at the link:

Subscribe to the channel here:

https://www.youtube.com/@ExpertsClub

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Azerbaijan prepares feasibility study for laying power transmission line on bottom of Black Sea

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said that a feasibility study (feasibility study) of the project of laying a power transmission line along the bottom of the Black Sea, which envisages supplying “green” energy from Azerbaijan to Europe via Georgia, will be submitted by November.

“In December last year, an agreement was signed between Azerbaijan, Georgia, Hungary and Romania, certified by the European Commission, on the construction of an integrated “green” power transmission line from Azerbaijan to Europe along the bottom of the Black Sea. The work on the feasibility study has already started. We expect it to be presented probably in September-October,” Aliyev said in Shusha.

On December 17, 2022, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary signed a strategic partnership agreement in Bucharest on the construction of Black Sea Energy submarine electric cable with a capacity of 1,000 MW and a length of 1,195 km. The cable will be designed to supply “green” electricity generated in Azerbaijan through Georgia and the Black Sea to Romania for subsequent transportation to Hungary and the rest of Europe.

In June, it was decided that Bulgaria would join the project.
The laying of the cable will take 3-4 years.

The European Commission plans to provide 2.3 billion euros for laying the cable, which will be the longest in the world.

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Azerbaijan cuts associated gas production by 3%

Azerbaijan reduced associated petroleum gas production 2.9% year-on-year in Q1 2023 to 3.809 billion cubic meters, an oil and gas market source told Interfax.
The total included 985.81 million cubic meters of saleable gas, down 27.3%.
Associated gas accounted for 31.3% of Azerbaijan’s total gas production. Natural gas accounted for the remaining 68.7% and totaled 8.35 bcm.
Gas condensate production fell 1.5% to 1.289 million tonnes and accounted for 16.7% of total oil production. The remaining 83.3% or 6.434 million tonnes was crude oil.
The bulk of associated gas is produced at the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli (ACG) fields, and most of it is re-injected into the reservoir to maintain pressure. The rest is supplied to State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR) free of charge. Most of the condensate is produced at the Shah Deniz field, from where it is exported by the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.

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Main buyers of Ukrainian frozen cattle meat in first quarter were China, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan

In January-March 2023, Ukraine exported 5.3 thousand tons of frozen cattle meat worth $20.6 million.
This is evidenced by the data of the State Customs Service.
The main buyers of Ukrainian frozen cattle meat during the first quarter of this year were China (69%), Azerbaijan (9.8%) and Uzbekistan (7.3%).
Imports of frozen cattle meat during the first three months of 2023 amounted to 369 tons. In monetary terms, it cost Ukraine $1.6 million.
Most of all, Ukraine bought frozen cattle meat in Lithuania (45.1%), Brazil (40.6%) and Austria (13.4%).
As reported, global beef prices rose in March.

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