The 10th Russian-Azerbaijani Interregional Forum, organized by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, has ended in Moscow. The forum was attended by First Vice President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva, Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matvienko, heads of economic departments of Russia and Azerbaijan Maxim Oreshkin and Mikail Dzhabbarov, Russian governors and heads of executive authorities of cities and regions of Azerbaijan, business representatives of both countries. Participants of the forum discussed issues of cooperation in the banking sector, among other things.
Fuad Islamov, Managing Director of the Azerbaijan International Bank (AIB), said that its is the largest state bank in Azerbaijan: “Our group also includes a subsidiary in Moscow, AIB Moscow. This allows us to serve customers who work "on projects, on export-import operations, on payments between Russia and Azerbaijan. This is one of our priority areas of development."
This summer, the bank adopted a new development strategy in Russia, for the AIB Moscow. "30% of all export operation from Russia to Azerbaijan are carried out through our group. The available opportunities allow such operation to be carried out most efficiently, quickly and with the lowest costs for customers. We are also considering the possibility of increasing and providing more comfortable services for operations of business facilities in our countries in local currencies - in Russian rubles and Azerbaijani manats.This is a very important topic, we support it and try to provide the best conditions, because they naturally result in a more comfortable work of our clients," Islamov said.
He also said that the bank provides classic customer services, including trade finance, project finance. "Our bank in Azerbaijan has long been connected to the financing of companies that carry out projects related to production of export-oriented products. We have a separate line of support for clients also involved in agricultural projects. Figures in this sector are growing from year to year. We also expect these the numbers will increase in the future," he said.
He emphasized: “We are always ready to support Russian companies if they need direct access to the Azerbaijani market. We provide consulting services, we are ready to support them in providing certain information and communication with Azerbaijani businessmen, with Azerbaijani companies. In this area, I think there's a lot of potential."
"We are present in the market, we support other financial institutions in Azerbaijan in their operations with banks in the Russian Federation. We open correspondent accounts. Today, the AIB branch network covers all of Azerbaijan, therefore we serve clients in various sectors of the economy, at different levels, at different sizes of business," Fuad Islamov said.
