Saudi Arabia will provide an SR67.5 million soft loan facility to Azerbaijan. "The loan agreement will be signed tentatively next month and the funds will be used for building and expanding infrastructure to boost potable water and power supplies in that country," said Naghi Jaabbarov, an Azeri diplomat, here. On behalf of the Kingdom, Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) will allocate the loan. "SFD Executive Director Yusuf Al-Bassam and Azeri Ambassador Dr. Elman Arasli discussed the modalities of this loan facility here on Tuesday," said Jaabbarov, who also attended the meeting. He pointed out that the terms and conditions of the credit facility are easy with 20-year repayment period besides a five-year grace period. The loan and the funds already made available to Azerbaijan are used to build infrastructural facilities, which were largely damaged during the Armenian aggression. Arab News quoted the diplomat as saying that Riyadh has always been extending a helping hand to Baku. A young nation, Azerbaijan regained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Asked about other SFD-funded projects, he said the Saudi aid organization has also signed an agreement with the Azeri government to fund the construction of five schools for 1,280 children in each of the five densely populated districts of the Azeri capital. More than 200 schools have been built in that country over the past eight years using foreign funds including Saudi money. Azerbaijan is also seeking SFD's support to execute a multimillion-riyal road project. Many Arab organizations including the Jeddah-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) have come forward to support Azerbaijan in implementing projects in different sectors, especially infrastructural projects. A Saudi entrepreneur has also invested in a major hotel project. A group of 63 Azeri doctors arrived in Saudi Arabia recently. It was the third group of Azeri doctors recruited by the Kingdom to be deployed at different Saudi health institutions.
