Starting from 1999, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has invested $1.7 billion into projects in Azerbaijan within 20 loans and one grant agreement, according to Samir Sharifov, Azerbaijan's Finance Minister.
Minister Sharifov made the remarks on June 9 at a reception held in honor of the 15th anniversary of Azerbaijan's accession to the ADB.
"Some $1.334 billion have been drawn as of early this year under the loan agreements with the bank. The volume of used funds stood at about $570 million," the minister added.
He said that following the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence, the effective integration into global economic system was chosen as a strategic goal of economic policy, and this goal certainly would not have been achieved without cooperation with international financial institutions.
"Currently, our country ranks 26th in the world in terms of possession of shares in ADB and 18th on the same indicator among the region's countries. ADB has actively participated in realization of infrastructure projects implemented jointly with the government and in holding reforms," Minister Sharifov added.
He said these projects addressed such areas as transportation, water supply and others.
"ADB projects cover both public and private sectors, and a representative office of the bank has been operating in Baku since 2004," Sharifov said, adding that Azerbaijan intends to continue strengthening cooperation with ADB to achieve the sustainable economic development goals.
Azerbaijan has been an ADB member since 1999. ADB's active loan portfolio all over the country reaches $1.2 billion.
ADB was founded in 1966 and has 67 members. The bank's headquarters is located in Manila, the capital of Philippines. Azerbaijan became its member on December 22, 1999. The country's participation share in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent.

The leading shareholders of ADB are Japan and the U.S. (31.2 percent of the total share capital), India and China (12.8 percent), Australia, South Korea and Canada (16 percent) and so on.