Baku, April 1, AZERTAC

The Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan continues to implement large-scale strategic projects to expand the coverage of digital payments in the country, as well as digitize banking services, insurance sector and capital markets using innovative financial technologies. In this regard, digitalization trends in the world are constantly monitored, cooperation with international organizations and regulators of other countries is carried out.

In this context, close cooperation has been established between the Central Bank and the Finance Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkiye (Finance Office of Turkiye). To expand this cooperation and discuss future directions, a meeting was held on March 31 between Chairman of the Central Bank Elman Rustamov and President of the Finance Office of Turkiye Goksel Asan. The sides highly praised the existing intensive cooperation between the financial sectors of the two brotherly countries and discussed prospects for future cooperation.

Saying that Azerbaijan's international prestige and attractiveness for international cooperation are steadily growing due to socio-political stability and rapid socio-economic development achieved in the country as a result of the successful policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev, Elman Rustamov emphasized the long-term close cooperation between Azerbaijan and Turkiye and also provided detailed information on successful cooperation between financial sectors of the two countries, including central banks, the insurance sector and capital markets.

Goksel Asan, in turn, praised Turkey’s cooperation with brotherly Azerbaijan, noting that the Government of Azerbaijan has made significant efforts in recent years to reduce the country's dependence on oil and gas resources and diversify the economy by expanding the participation of the private sector in ensuring sustainable economic growth.

During the meeting, the sides stressed that the Memorandum to be signed today will make a new significant contribution to deepening cooperation. At the end of the meeting, a Memorandum of Understanding on mutual cooperation was signed between the Central Bank and the Finance Office. It was noted that the Memorandum covers the issues of expanding the fintech ecosystem, introducing an open banking approach, digital transformation of the insurance industry and capital markets, as well as addresses establishing a legal framework that supports the innovative financial technologies and also creating cooperative frameworks to increase human resources potential.

The Memorandum will serve to further strengthen cooperation between the two brotherly countries in all areas, including the formation of fintech ecosystem and thus the expansion of competitive, innovative and accessible digital financial services in the financial sector.

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