Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will pay a private visit to Azerbaijan Dec. 1 upon the invitation of the Azerbaijani company AZMECO, AZMECO Board Chairman Nizami Piriyev told Trend News today.

The aim of the official's visit is to attend the signing ceremony of a loan agreement worth $120 million between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and AZMECO to build a plant to produce methanol.

Blair is the leader of the Labor Party and was the seventy-third British prime minister, holding office from 1997-2007.

In October, the EBRD approved a $120-million loan for AZMECO to construct a methanol plant in Azerbaijan. EBRD has approved up to $120 million in financing with two separated tranches - a $90-million senior loan up to nine years and $30-million senior performance-linked financing to be fully repaid in 10 years.

The plant's construction began in 2007. AZMECO's own investment in the project is $70 million. The International Bank of Azerbaijan, EDC of Canada and Black Sea Trade and Development Bank are also financing the project.

The total cost of the project is over $300 million.

The methanol plant will be located in the Garadag region is expected to be put into operation in the third quarter of 2010. Work on the plant's construction begna in 2007.

In the first phase, the plant's production capacity will be 720,000 tons per year. The completion of the second phase of construction, which involves producing nitrogen fertilizer, is scheduled for 2011. In the second phase of construction 400,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizer will be produced.