Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the World Bank (WB) have discussed potential opportunities for cooperation on projects that will contribute to the development of tourism in the country, Azernews reports.

The discussion occurred at a meeting between Azerbaijan’s State Tourism Agency Chairman Fuad Naghiyev and Country Manager for World Bank in Azerbaijan Sarah Michael.

During the meeting, Fuad Naghiyev focused on the attention paid by the state to the development of tourism in the country in recent years and informed her about ongoing projects being implemented in the sector.

Touching upon the reconstruction and restoration work carried out in the nature reserves subordinate to the tourism agency, as well as projects aimed at reviving tourism in Karabakh, he stressed the importance of using international experience to this end.

The chairman also emphasized that the main goal of the projects implemented by the agency is to support the development of tourism-oriented entrepreneurship with the preservation of cultural heritage, as well as the importance of achieving sustainable development by improving the welfare of the population.

For her part, Sarah Michael noted the importance of cooperation on projects that will contribute to the development of tourism in Azerbaijan, and informed him about projects supported by the WB for the preservation of historical and cultural heritage in Baku and Shaki.

She added that the World Bank is ready to share its experience in tourism education, regional tourism development, management of tourist destinations, and attracting investment to this sector.

Additionally, the sides exchanged views on projects and programs to be implemented in accordance with the “strategy of social and economic development of Azerbaijan for 2022-2026” in the direction of increasing the share of tourism in GDP as one of the important sectors of the economy.

Issues of organizing the legal and institutional framework in order to create an attractive environment for the tourism business, as well as providing expert support from the World Bank in terms of preparing diagnostic research documents in the field of tourism in Azerbaijan and applying international experience were also discussed.

Azerbaijan joined the WB in 1992. Since then, the bank has financed over 50 projects with total commitments of $4.4 billion. It started economic cooperation in Azerbaijan to help increase the country’s institutional capacity and build efficient oil reserves management. The WB has always supported the large-scale reforms carried out in Azerbaijan.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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