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Anatoly Kazakov: Baku is one of the real candidates for the CIS financial center

23 October 2008 16:04 (UTC +04:00)

The event was attended by Anatoly Kazakov, chairman of the CIS Coordination Council, Pavel Nefidov, general director of the CIS Finance and Banking Council, and Fuad Abdullayev, chairman of the International Bank of Azerbaijan-Moscow.
Kazakov said the current financial crisis is the largest one the financial community has ever seen, and deeper and more systemic than the Great Depression in the United States in 1930s:
â€œWe thought that Eastern Europe and the CIS will remain on the sidelines of the trends of world financial crisis but this did not happen. The countries, which are more closely integrated into the global financial system, felt the crisis most acutely. Thus, there is more serious situation in the markets of Ukraine and Kazakhstan where about 50% of liabilities are foreign capital. Russia has large foreign exchange reserves, so there is no concern for the economic crisis. The crisis will completely bypass Azerbaijan because of the conservative financial-monetary and banking policies,â€ he added.
According to Kazakov, the financial crisis will last for another year and the challenge now is to completely change the rules of the global financial system.
â€œThere will be a G-20 meeting soon, and we also look at the matter on a scale of the CIS. One of the main issues is to switch accounts to the national currency from the dollar and euro in order to increase the role of the national currency in the financial system and foreign trade. There will be a special session on this topic in the conference,â€ he noted.
Furthermore, it is slated to establish Moscow International Financial Center by 2020.
â€œIn general, it is planned to establish several such centers in he CIS area, and Baku is one of the real candidates because Azerbaijan has demonstrated an unprecedented economic growth rate. Our economies are very dependent on oil and we need a shift to innovation economy. This issue will be discussed at a meeting of Heads of CIS Governments in Moldova on November 14,â€ he underlined
Pavel Nefidov said that the CIS Finance and Banking Council has 13 co-founders.
â€œThey include the largest banks in the CIS area, including Kazakhstanâ€™s TuranAlem, International Bank of Azerbaijan and Russiaâ€™s Vneshekonombank,â€ he noted.
According to Nefidova, the idea of organizing a bank conference in Baku was first suggested in spring.
â€œSuch conferences are aimed at attracting more foreign capital. We believe it is necessary for the CIS banks to reach neighboring markets. The conference will discuss common financial instruments,â€ he noted.

Fuad Abdullayev said that the conference is being held in Baku since Azerbaijan is leading economic growth in the world.
â€œThe relevance of such a conference is great because banks are faced with the problem of liquidity in the financial crisis at present,â€ he added..
The organizer of the conference is the CIS Finance and Banking Council and the general sponsor is the International Bank of Azerbaijan.