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USAID/Azerbaijan Mission Director: â€œWe think that our activity here contributes to the economic development of Azerbaijanâ€ - INTERVIEW

USAID/Azerbaijan Mission Director: â€œWe think that our activity here contributes to the economic development of Azerbaijanâ€ - <font color=red>INTERVIEW</font>

02 December 2011 09:16 (UTC +04:00)

-Mr. Greene, currently the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) commemorates its 50th anniversary and USAIDâ€™s history goes back to the Marshall Plan reconstruction of Europe after World War Two. But when and why did USAID come to Azerbaijan? Whatâ€™s your top priority here?

- USAID came to Azerbaijan in 1993. Those were very difficult times for Azerbaijan and our programs were 100% focused on internally displaced persons. Since then we have gone through a complete shift and now our programs are focused on the kinds of sustainable development programs. India, South Korea, Indonesia and other countries were among the earliest recipients of the USAID assistance 50 years ago. Some of these countries have become United Statesâ€™ largest trading partners. More than 50% of U.S. exports are now to those countries and the block of other developing countries in the world. We think that our activity here contributes to the economic development of Azerbaijan and we hope it will become a major economic partner in the future.

-How much financial assistance have you provided here so far?

-Our Agency has spent more than 300 million USD in Azerbaijan. In the early years this was humanitarian assistance. Over the last 5-7 years our investments have mostly been in the economic growth, health, democracy and governance programs.

- USAID attaches a great importance to health care. In USAIDâ€™s â€œ2010 Health Vulnerability Analysisâ€ Azerbaijan ranked 8th most vulnerable among 28 nations. What does it mean and how to make Azerbaijan less vulnerable?

- As I recall, this report concerns predominantly the CIS countries. The basic idea of that report is that public health systems are very important in order that a country can have a healthy and well-educated workforce in order to contribute to their economic growth. So, that report attempted to look at health statistics and see which countries were perhaps lagging behind in some of those basic public health systems. Azerbaijan ranked rather low in that report. However, as I recall, that data was from 2006 and many things have changed in Azerbaijan since then. Some of the basic statistics have changed significantly - the percent of budget invested in health has risen tremendously; child mortality rates have improved in Azerbaijan. I would like to see that report performed again now with updated data. I think the outcome would be very much different.

- Recently, USAID and OSCE Baku office signed a grant agreement on combating trafficking in persons. Why have you decided to support such project in Azerbaijan?

- Both President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton identified the human trafficking throughout the world as a major human rights problem. It is a very serious situation affecting vulnerable people in many countries, including in the United States. We are trying to assist the government of Azerbaijan who has also identified it as a problem here in Azerbaijan. As you know, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has developed an action plan for combating trafficking in persons and we designed this project to help the Ministry in those efforts.

- How important are democracy and governance projects for you? Is the Agency implementing any relevant project currently?

- Yes, we have a broad range of democracy and governance programs. We are focusing on a new regional economic development program that will implement economic infrastructure projects in over 100 communities. The idea is to help link citizens with their local and regional governments in order to help select and design projects that will impact peopleâ€™s lives. We are working with the Parliament in designing a new parliamentary program. We had a very successful program with the Parliament over the last 4 years. The program helped the Parliament to develop a new Members of Parliament Assistants program where they have constituentâ€™s offices in the regions and they reach out to their constituents. And we are working with the Parliament to extend that program. Our other programs are directed to increase the participation of citizens in the economic and political life of the country. We have a new Womenâ€™s Participation Program which will provide grants to womenâ€™s organizations for them to do advocacy on womenâ€™s issues such violence against women, participation in the politics. Our counterpart is the Committee for Family, Women and Children Problems. We have anti-corruption program. We provide grant to â€œTransparency Azerbaijanâ€ which runs 3 centers in Azerbaijan. Citizens can call in order to consult about problems that they are having and corruption cases; they get advice and counseling about what they can do. I think this has become a good resource for the government because this has provided a channel for communication. Thus, the Azerbaijani government declared reducing corruption as one of its objectives. I believe that our joint efforts will be productive.