Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the State Agro Trade Agency under the Ministry of Agriculture organise a 2-day regional planning workshop on development of national agricultural export strategies in Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, Trend reports with reference to the agency.

The meeting brought together government officials from the three project countries, other national stakeholders, FAO technical officers from SEC and HQ, national and international consultants, and representatives of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

The event aimed to achieve a common understanding of the project objectives, structure, and implementation modalities; consensus among the various stakeholders on the priority agri-food commodities to be investigated under the project, based on initial lists prepared by the project countries and agree upon an implementation plan for the project as well as for each individual country, which will allow the three project objectives to be achieved.

The workshop was organised within the framework of the regional project funded by FAO Technical Cooperation Programme and implemented by FAO Subregional Office in Turkey since 2018.

The proposed project will support national government institutions and private sector stakeholders in achieving their goals in increasing agri-food export through:

• the analysis of potential export markets in terms of demand and regulations for market access (tariff and non-tariff barriers) and

• the assessment of domestic production, value chain and export capacities including the subsequent formulation of draft national export promotion strategies aimed at overcoming the existing bottlenecks and unleashing the production and export capacities in the beneficiary countries.