The Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States led by the Deputy Secretary General Dr. Omer Kocaman and delegates from the Member States participated in the "3rd Agribusiness Development Forum" held on March 29, 2024 in the city of Guba, Azerbaijan, the agro-capital of the OTS in 2023-2024.
The Forum was jointly organized by the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Agency for Agricultural Credit and Development (AKIA) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). More than 200 participants from relevant government institutions, representatives of the Central Bank and private banks, agricultural support agencies and business communities exchanged their views on the financial support tools for agriculture, application of "smart" irrigation systems, development of crop seeds resistant to climate change, etc.
The Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan, H.E. Majnun Mammadov, in his welcoming speech highlighted the Ministry's efforts to achieve sustainable transformation of national agri-food systems. He also stressed that OTS countries with their vast and fertile agricultural lands, diverse climates and abundant water resources are important producers and exporters of many agricultural products and have great potential in terms of agricultural production. The Minister emphasized that by using the OTS platform, it is possible to contribute to the solution of common problems in the agricultural sector and to the development of the sector in the region.
In his speech at the opening ceremony of the Forum, Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Ömer Kocaman underlined the importance of agriculture for the economic and social development of the Turkic States and briefed the participants on the activities of the Organization in the field of agriculture, in particular, cooperation mechanisms for improving agricultural productivity, increasing exports and enhancing the competitiveness of agricultural products to access new markets, ensuring food security, introducing financial instruments.
He added that the main goal of the Organization is to create effective mechanisms for agricultural cooperation and development through joint activities and projects derived from the documents "Turkic World Vision-2040" and "OTS Strategy for 2022-26".
The 4th panel session of the Forum was dedicated to the agricultural potential of the OTS region and was moderated by the Project Director of the OTS Secretariat Farrukh Jumayev, where the speakers, consisting of high-ranking officials from the Ministries of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey and Uzbekistan, presented the achievements of their countries in the field of agriculture and exchanged views on opportunities of multilateral cooperation within the OTS.
