16:05 - 24.01.2018

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President Ilham Aliyev has met with Mastercard General Counsel and Chief Franchise Officer Tim Murphy on January 23rd during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.  At the meeting Tim Murphy had an opportunity to discuss with HE Mr. President projects being implemented by Mastercard worldwide as well as talk about the perspectives of the cashless future and its influence on the economy and tax systems.

 

Among the recent projects of Mastercard “Roadmap to Cashless Azerbaijan” takes a special position being a joint project of Mastercard and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan conducted in 2017 and aiming to create a cashless transformation strategy for Azerbaijan. The objectives of this project are increasing cashless payments, improving efficiency in the economy and supporting growth of Azerbaijan’s economy. The project foresees the country's digital transformation and cashless roadmap.  Advantages of living in cashless society are obvious, such as eradication of tax evasion and safer payments for citizens. Electronic payments are also proven to boost economic growth while advancing financial inclusion. Project laid out the size of cash economy, evaluated underlying reasons of cash usage and designed a roadmap that will set the digital transformation strategy of Azerbaijan for the next 5 years.

 

This project took nearly 8 months and within the project, Mastercard and the Central Bank of Azerbaijan have aligned with government entities such as Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Tax, Ministry of Labor and Financial Markets Supervision Authority. Two field trips to Turkey and Singapore respectively were organized to showcase the best practices and outcomes identified during the project.  As a next step, project deliverables are expected to transform into a “State Program”.

 

Mastercard is proud to be cooperating with the Azerbaijan government having a strategic vision to turn Azerbaijan into a regional leader in digital transformation and a cashless society.