Saudi Arabia is interested in investing in the development of the agrarian sector in Azerbaijan, representative of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) Saleh al-Abdad, taking part in the work of the Azerbaijani-Saudi business forum, told Trend May 15.

He said that the fund is ready to finance the agricultural sector of the country through Azerbaijani banks. “We are already working in this field with Amrahbank OJSC and ready to provide loans for the financing of the agrarian sector to any bank interested in this,”said al-Abdad, refusing to name the more accurate data.

Amrahbank OJSC is the first bank in Azerbaijan, with which the Saudi Fund for Development signed a loan agreement on the allocation of $4 million to finance trade operations in November 2012. Until then, the Saudi Fund carried out projects on the basis of state guarantees, provided loans to support infrastructure projects as well as projects in the social sphere.

Saleh al-Abdad said that the fund is also ready to finance Azerbaijani companies engaged in the import of products produced in Saudi Arabia.

“This is the main direction of activity of our foundation,” said the representative of the SFD. “We want to increase the export of our products to many countries, including Azerbaijan.”

The share of agriculture and processing in total loan portfolio of Azerbaijani banks as of April 1, 2015 amounted to 4.5 percent (932.3 million manats).

There are 45 banks in Azerbaijan, two of which are state-owned ones.