BP on behalf of its co-venturers in Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Economic Development (MoED), recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the implementation of an advisory programme on macroeconomic management and institutional reform.
The objective of this project is to assist the MoED in managing high economic growth, achieving macroeconomic stability, and implementing efficient structural reforms. This assistance will mainly include advisory service and technically sound analyses to shape the macroeconomic policy formulation by the Ministry. Overall, the project is designed to support MoED’s efforts to enhance the efficiency of its activities and increase its capacity to plan, implement and monitor the processes aimed at sustainable economic growth in Azerbaijan.
“We are pleased to have this opportunity to support the Ministry of Economic Development by contributing to the development of capability in areas of macroeconomic analysis, institutional reforms planning, and policy formulation. The project will also provide recommendations and assistance in structural reforms planning and implementation processes through leading international advisory services. The entire project has been designed in close co-ordination with the Ministry, and we strongly believe once successfully implemented, it will benefit the country,” says Bill Schrader, President of BP in Azerbaijan.
“We welcome this project, which covers a range of areas that are very important for planning Azerbaijan’s economic growth at this stage. These include implementation of economic analyses, evaluation of key economic data and preparation of long-term macroeconomic projections, advice on enhancing structural reforms, including institutional development, building analytical and planning capacity within MoED for the adoption of comprehensive public investment policies, enhancement of MoED capacity in preparing a concept paper for the annual budget submissions and strengthening of statistical data analysis to monitor macroeconomic conditions and evaluate the impact of structural reforms on economic growth. All of these are priority activity directions ensuring Azerbaijan’s dynamic development in the near future”, says Heydar Babayev, Minister of Economic Development of Azerbaijan.
The duration of the project is two years.
Notes to editors:
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 its co-venturers’ commitment to the sustainable economic development of Azerbaijan.
As part of this commitment BP and its co-venturers:
BP also leads a number of other significant initiatives to encourage the non-oil sector and support enterprise development throughout Azerbaijan through Regional Development Initiative, Community and Environmental Investments and Cultural Heritage Programmes, educational and other capacity-building sponsorships.
Tamam Bayatly, BP Baku Press office, telephone: 994 (0) 12 599 4557