Azernews.Az

By Laman Sadigova

Encouraging middle-class women to engage in entrepreneurship and providing them with government support is one of the aims of the State Committee for Family, Women, and Children, said Sadagat Gahramanova, the deputy committee chairman.

Gahramanova also said that now the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support (NFES) under the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy and Industry is providing soft loans, from which a sufficient number of women have already benefited.

The Baku office of the UN and the State Committee have created a joint project for the proliferation of women-owned businesses and it is already been implemented in the Sabirabad region of Azerbaijan, with plans to expand to Neftchala and Masalli.

After the project’s launch in Sabirabad, nine housewives opened their own small business in various fields.

The project envisages the development of business opportunities for rural female residents who have been unable to get higher education.

Gahramanova, commenting on a proposal by Special Committee of Experts on the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, stated that the issuing of preferential loans for women should not raise concerns in Azerbaijan.

"We always support women entrepreneurs, discuss and solve their problems. However, we must bear in mind that we live in a period of market economy. Therefore, everyone has to balance their capabilities to the requirements of the market economy", she said.

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