The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is pleased to announce the launch of three new projects that will continue to help bring positive and lasting change to Azerbaijan and its people.

The Azerbaijan Competitiveness and Trade (ACT) project is a three-year project designed to improve the domestic business enabling environment; develop a liberalized, more transparent trade environment; and improve targeted agricultural value chains in Azerbaijan. ACT will be implemented by Sibley International in cooperation with the Economic Integration Forum, Pragma Corporation, and ASR Consulting. The Government of Azerbaijan is jointly funding the ACT project.

USAID Azerbaijan will also partner with AccessBank and DemirBank through 2015 to help improve access to finance for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including targeted lending to the agriculture sector. This agreement is part of the USAID Development Credit Authority (DCA) program. The DCA tool provides partial credit guarantees on loans or bonds, thereby mitigating the risk to a lender. The credit guarantees enable USAID to encourage banks to lend their own capital to creditworthy but underserved sectors. Leveraging private capital allows USAID to have a greater more sustainable impact, allowing banks to become familiar with sectors previously viewed as risky.

Azerbaijan New Media Program (ANMP) is, a three-year initiative to improve the quantity and quality of news and information produced, distributed, and consumed by Azerbaijani citizens in an environment that increasingly supports the rights to produce and consume independent news and information. The program will be implemented by International Research and Exhcnages Board (IREX).

Since Azerbaijan’s independence, USAID has provided over $300 million of financial assistance and technical expertise, to bring positive and lasting change within the country's institutions and the lives of its people. From the American people, USAID programs cooperate with ministries, governmental agencies, non-government organizations, businesses, and communities to help improve laws, promote human and political rights, engage citizens, expand jobs, increase incomes, and improve the health and quality of life of Azerbaijan's people.