Azerbaijan Merges AZPROMO and KOBIA Into One Investment and Export Agency

Azerbaijan has folded its small-business and investment promotion bodies into a single institution. The Agency for the Development of Small and Medium Businesses, Investment and Export Promotion officially entered its new institutional phase on 1 October, according to AzerNews.

What was merged

The agency combines the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (KOBIA) and the Export and Investment Promotion Agency (AZPROMO) under the Ministry of Economy. Its charter was approved on 20 August. It will operate with 370 positions: 291 in the central apparatus and 79 in regional divisions.

Mandate

The reform consolidates three connected functions, entrepreneurship, investment and exports, into one framework. The agency is aimed at non-oil sector expansion, with priority areas including manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, digital industries, renewable energy, tourism and mining.

It also carries a regulatory-coordination role: draft regulations from government bodies that affect small and medium businesses must be coordinated with the agency before they go to rule-making authorities. In practice that gives SMEs a formal voice in the drafting stage.

Timing alongside the investment forum

The launch came two days before the second Azerbaijan International Investment Forum on 3 October. A Euronews report, labelled as sponsored content produced in partnership with Azpromo, said representatives of more than 70 countries took part and that over $10 billion in contracts and agreements were signed. Because that account is sponsored, the figure should be treated as an organiser-aligned claim; no itemised list of deals was provided.

Implications

For foreign investors, a single counterpart for licensing questions, export support and SME partnerships could shorten the path from interest to project. For local companies, the key question is delivery: whether 370 staff can serve both an investor pipeline and a large SME base, and whether regional offices, with 79 positions, have the capacity to reach firms outside Baku.

The agency has not published performance targets in the material reviewed. Its first measurable outputs, such as investor inquiries handled, export contracts facilitated and SME programmes launched, will show whether the consolidation delivers on its non-oil diversification brief.

Further Reading

• Azerbaijan Investment Forum Nets $10.8 Billion in Signed Agreements
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