|
 |
|
IFC Partners with Swiss Government and BP on Behalf of Its Co-venturers
to Help Improve the Business Enabling Environment in Azerbaijan
Baku, Azerbaijan, July 7, 2008—IFC,
a member of the World Bank Group, has partnered with the Swiss State Secretariat
for Economic Affairs (SECO) and BP on behalf of its co-venturers to launch
the Azerbaijan Business Enabling Environment Project. This five-year program
is designed to support the efforts of Azerbaijan’s government to improve
the business environment for entrepreneurs and ensure sustainable and diversified
economic growth. The project will focus on reducing the regulatory burden
on business, monitoring the business environment through surveys of the
small and medium enterprise sector, and increasing entrepreneurs’ awareness
of their legal rights through outreach and advocacy work.
In 2007 and 2008, the government launched
reforms by introducing a one-stop shop and making changes in licensing
and construction permits, investor protection, tax administration, and
labor. IFC will continue to support reforms in these areas by streamlining
administrative procedures and removing key regulatory barriers to business
entry and operations. In particular, IFC will work with the government
to improve legislation governing permits and licensing and help implementing
agencies translate legislative changes into improvements on the ground.
Philipp Keller, Deputy Regional Director
of the Swiss Cooperation Office for the South Caucasus, noted, “Switzerland
is pleased to contribute with a grant of $4.3 million to help Azerbaijan’s
government improve the business enabling environment. The project will
facilitate diversified growth in the SME sector and help create employment
in Azerbaijan.”
“BP on behalf of its co-venturers,
is pleased to participate in this project. It is a unique opportunity for
combining the Government’s, IFC’s, SECO’s and our resources to help
the government streamline its efforts to enable rapid development of local
enterprises. We see this project as part of our commitment to supporting
economic development through empowering local businesses and we hope this
joint effort will help develop strong and transparent private sector”,
says Seymour Khalilov, BP’s Vice-President, Communications and External
Affairs.
Building on significant regional expertise,
IFC will monitor the business environment in Azerbaijan through surveys
of the SME sector. These enterprise surveys will complement the yearly
global monitoring by the IFC-World Bank Doing Business report. IFC
intends to transfer its methodology to the Ministry of Economic Development
to ensure that domestic capacity for ongoing business environment monitoring
is developed and can be sustained. IFC will also work to increase entrepreneurs’
awareness of legal rights and promote private sector involvement in reforms
through public education campaigns, advocacy work, and launch of the SME
Toolkit portal.
Through its business enabling environment
projects in CIS countries, IFC has helped governments amend or enact 11
major laws and regulations that have led to $93 million in cost savings
for SMEs. IFC also helped draft or amend 83 others that have been adopted
by governments. IFC’s surveys of smaller businesses have provided policymakers
with detailed, relevant recommendations for improvements. As of July 1,
2007, 161 survey recommendations have been adopted by governments. To educate
SMEs about their legal rights and responsibilities, almost 247,000 educational
materials have been distributed in the region.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group,
fosters sustainable economic growth in developing countries by financing
private sector investment, mobilizing private capital in local and international
financial markets, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services
to businesses and governments. IFC’s vision is that poor people should
have the opportunity to escape poverty and improve their lives. In FY07,
IFC committed $8.2 billion and mobilized an additional $3.9 billion through
syndications and structured finance for 299 investments in 69 developing
countries. IFC also provided advisory services in 97 countries. For more
information, visit www.ifc.org.
Azerbaijan became a member of IFC in
1996. To date, IFC has invested $266 million from its own funds and $104
million from syndications in 37 projects in the country. IFC has also implemented
advisory projects in banking, corporate governance, leasing, SME development,
housing finance, securities market development, investment promotion, and
business environment.
About SECO
The State Secretariat for Economic Affairs
(SECO) is the Swiss federal government's centre of expertise for all core
issues relating to economic policy. Its aim is to ensure sustainable economic
growth by putting in place the necessary regulatory and economic policy
conditions. The “Economic Cooperation and Development” Division of SECO
is responsible for planning and implementing economic and trade policy
measures with developing countries, Eastern European and Central Asian
states as well as the new EU states.
The primary aims of SECO are to integrate
partner countries into the world economy and promote sustainable economy
growth, making an efficient and effective contribution to reducing poverty.
This represents a direct positive relationship between foreign trade policy
and development cooperation.
Switzerland is active in Azerbaijan
since 2001. Each year, Switzerland spends about US$ 6 million on transition
assistance to Azerbaijan as a non-reimbursable contribution in different
areas like: corporate governance, leasing, primary mortgage, government
securities market, intellectual property rights or water management.
About BP
BP as the operator of Azerbaijan’s
major oil and gas development and transportation projects on behalf of
its partners has set an ambitious target to continually increase the value
of contracts placed with Azerbaijan-owned companies. To reach this target,
BP and its co-venturers have opened the Enterprise Centre in Baku to support
local companies and encourage their participation in BP projects. In 2007
BP on behalf of its co-venturers spent $111m directly with local Azerbaijani
small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) – a significant increase from
the 2006 spend. The driving force behind these initiatives is BP and co-venturers’
commitment to the sustainable economic development of Azerbaijan.
As part of this commitment BP and its
co-venturers:
- are funding the Supplier Finance Facility
(SFF) - an important initiative in support of local enterprise development.
The SFF is a joint credit facility established by BP on behalf of its co-venturers,
IFC and the Micro Finance Bank of Azerbaijan. This $15-million project
is designed to give greater access to finance for Azerbaijan's local oil
and gas industry supplier and service enterprises;
- are supporting in cooperation with the
EBRD and IFC private sector development in Azerbaijan through creating
transparent and effective access to commercial finance for local businesses
including SMEs and micro-enterprises;
- are funding the Enterprise Development
and Training Programme (EDTP) – a multi-million initiative aimed at increasing
the local content of BP and co-venturers contracts in Azerbaijan and thereby
contributing to the healthy and transparent development of local economy;
- are sponsoring the Best of Business
local enterprise awards to encourage local business development. The awards
recognise outstanding local and international companies and business personalities
whose entrepreneurial skills contribute to the success of BP-operated oil
and gas projects and make a lasting impact on the local business environment.
|
|
|
| |
