BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept. 25
By Klavdiya Romakayeva - Trend:
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) experts in Uzbekistan actively supported the development of the country's first Agricultural Development Strategy for 2020-2030, Trend reports with reference to the Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, FAO Regional Representative for Europe, and Central Asia Vladimir Rakhmanin.
“Being the FAO Regional Representative not only in Europe but also in Central Asia, I drew special attention to the fact that the head of Uzbekistan in this speech at the UN General Assembly session made important statements about the priority of interaction with the states of this region in Uzbekistan's foreign policy for the sake of common prosperity”, said Rakhmanin.
FAO together with the Uzbek side initiated and held the first regular virtual meeting of agriculture ministers of five states, giving rise to a new format of cooperation.
During the meeting, the representatives of FAO, EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), Eurasian Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Islamic Development Bank, and World Bank discussed the issues of ensuring food security and agricultural development in Uzbekistan during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was noted, for the first time in history, Uzbekistan, as a Central Asian country, will chair the session of one of the most important structural decision-making bodies of FAO, the Regional Conference for Europe, on November 2-4, 2020.
“I am confident that this event will become significant both for Uzbekistan and the entire region in terms of determining the vector of further cooperation and a program for the development of agriculture,” Rakhmanin noted.
Rakhmanin stressed that FAO welcomes the impressive large-scale reforms that are ongoing in Uzbekistan today in all areas, especially in the agricultural sector, which makes up 34 percent of the Uzbek economy.
Given that one of the priority areas is the modernization and intensive development of agriculture, FAO works together with Uzbekistan in three main areas:
- strategic support of the Ministry of Agriculture and other government agencies;
- development of the food supply chain and market access;
- sustainable management of natural resources, climate change, and biodiversity.
“We attach great importance to the implementation of a new system of knowledge and innovation in agriculture - Agricultural Knowledge and Innovations System (AKIS), which is being developed with the assistance of FAO and the Global Environment Facility (GEF) as part of the above-mentioned Agricultural Strategy,” said the FAO representative.
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