USAID to Continue Cooperation with Azerbaijan - Margo Ellis

Baku / 18.05.17 / Turan: USAID (US Agency for International Development) intends to continue cooperation with Azerbaijan. This was stated by the acting Deputy Administrator of the Bureau for Europe and Eurasia Margo Ellis on May 18 at a press conference in Baku.

In the framework of her visit to Azerbaijan on May 14, she met with officials, including Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov, head of the NGO Support Council under the President Azay Guliyev, as well as representatives of the country's civil society.

She discussed the development of cooperation between the US and Azerbaijan.

To study Azerbaijan's needs for foreign aid, Ellis also held meetings with representatives of the European Union, the UN, the Council of Europe, the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in Baku.

"USAID's goal is to establish strong and positive relations with Azerbaijan, to help citizens of the country that the US wants to see stable, sustainable and democratic," Ellis said.

According to her, during 25 years of cooperation, the US allocated $ 1.3 billion to Azerbaijan. Of this assistance, $ 400 million was provided through projects that were implemented by USAID. In this sense, the US-Azerbaijan partnership is stable.

On the question of Turan IA whether USAID will continue cooperation with Azerbaijan in 2018, Ellis gave an affirmative answer. "After the announcement of the initial draft of the US budget for 2018 there were rumors that financial assistance to some countries will be reduced or ceased completely. But the US system is such that any budget project must pass through the House of Representatives and the Senate. Only after a certain time it will become known whether the financing has been ceased or not. During this period, we will continue to deepen partnership and cooperation with Azerbaijan," Ellis said.

She noted that USAID will render assistance in diversifying the economy of Azerbaijan, reforms to support small and medium-sized businesses.

Answering the question about the difficulties in granting grants to the civil society of Azerbaijan, Ellis noted that the issue of registration of NGOs was raised at the meetings in Baku. "In January of this year Azerbaijan stated that the registration of NGOs will be based on the principle of "one window". We welcome this. USAID implements projects with NGOs representing the entire society. Probably, the Azerbaijani government understands how important NGOs are for us," Ellis said.

Does the USAID work with the Azerbaijani government to deepen democracy and human rights? Answering this question, Ellis noted that in the projects of the organization there are also issues of civil society development. "We define projects mainly in the regions on the basis of discussions with local authorities and communities. As a result of the implementation of our projects, we have contributed to improving the living conditions of 500,000 people. We believe that people should have an opportunity to see the results of projects on practice," Ellis said.

On May 19, she will visit the Goranboy, Shamkir and Shamakhi districts, meet with members of local communities, as well as with individuals who benefited from the results of the projects supported by USAID and the Azerbaijani government.

In Ganja, Ellis will meet with local women to discuss issues on the empowerment of women in the regions of Azerbaijan. -06D--