President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Suma Chakrabarti.
The head of state congratulated Suma Chakrabarti on the occasion of his re-election as EBRD President. President Ilham Aliyev described his re-election as recognition of his contributions, and wished him success in his activities.
President Ilham Aliyev expressed his confidence that long-term cooperation between Azerbaijan and EBRD would successfully continue even further. Underlining Azerbaijan's interest in maintaining cooperation with EBRD, the head of state noted that this collaboration contributed to the implementation of a number of projects in the country.
Pointing to EBRD`s investment in the private sector, President Ilham Aliyev hailed it as a proper assessment of the situation in this sector, and said these investments created additional financial opportunities for the development of the private sector.
President Ilham Aliyev expressed his hope that EBRD President Suma Chakrabarti's visit to Azerbaijan would be fruitful.
Suma Chakrabarti thanked Azerbaijan for supporting his re-election as EBRD President. He hailed the successful cooperation and strengthening partnership between EBRD and Azerbaijan. Suma Chakrabarti noted that the investments in the private sector, particularly in the non-oil sector had been significantly raised in recent years.
The EBRD President praised economic reforms in Azerbaijan.
Saying the private sector accounted for 70 per cent of the total volume of investment EBRD made in Azerbaijan's economy, Mr. Chakrabarti noted that 8 out of 9 projects they funded was implemented in the non-oil sector.
The sides exchanged views on the development of cooperation in transport, energy, agriculture, private sector, entrepreneurship and a number of other fields.
