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Thursday, April 25, 2024 13:20 GMT
The Republic of Azerbaijan, which has embarked on a mission to fast expand its foreign trade, is eyeing Qatar to reinforce its presence in the local market and attract potential investors to its emerging agro industry sector.A trade delegation headed by Azerbaijan’s “Agro Procurement and Supply” Chairperson Leyla Mammadova, held successful meetings with several Qatari entities including Hassad Food, Al Meera, private sector body Qatar Chamber and other leading market players in Qatar, during its just-concluded visit.“The Agro Procurement and Supply’, under the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan, is looking to expand its businesses with Qatar, especially in agro trading. We are currently working on a large number of projects to stimulate agro entrepreneurships. This offers great opportunities for Qatari investors”, Leyla told The Peninsula in an interview.Agro Procurement and Supply is in the process of supporting SMEs in the agro sector. It is working with the entrepreneurs to increase the production and to find new markets. The government-supported body is also working with large producers to promote agriculture and food products outside Azerbaijan. “We are here to encourage Qatari investors to help tap the enormous opportunities available in Azerbaijan’s agro sector,” she said.Besides, looking to expand its agro and food business with its 12 traditional CIS (Commonwealth of Independents States) countries, Azerbaijan wanted to deepen its market in the GCC. Qatar is one of the important markets in the region. “We can also support Qatar’s ambitious food security program in a big way,” she said.The Agro Procurement and Supply has been working with the Azerbaijan’s embassy in Doha to showcase the opportunities available for potential Qatari investors in Azerbaijan since last year. “We held several rounds of discussions with different government entities and individuals. Hopefully we will see some fruitful results this year,” she added.“Azerbaijan agricultural products are high quality products. It’s meant for niche market and we see that niche market demand in Qatar.” Ranked 23th country by oil production in the world, Azerbaijan has a long history of agricultural traditions. Livestock farming, growing crops and horticulture in the agricultural area of nearly 5 million hectares is highly developed.Agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the economy in Azerbaijan- a country that is considered to be one of the earliest sites of human agricultural activity. Currently the agricultural sector employs over 36.3 % of the active labor force of the country.As one of the leading agro-food producers in the CIS, Azerbaijan seeks to further develop its agriculture and food industry for import substitution purposes in parallel with enhancement of export capabilities.The country has 4.8m hectares of agricultural land, which comprises over 50 % of its total territory, of which 39 % is arable. Crop production accounts for around 49 % of agricultural production with livestock farming making up the remaining 51 %. The country has lineup wide range of long-term plans to boost agriculture sector sector’s contribution to its national GDP with the support of foreign investors, she said. Azerbaijan trades intensively with the CIS, which is traditionally the main destination and the largest consumer of agriculture and food exports from Azerbaijan. However, in recent years foreign market scale has expanded to include many other countries in the GCC, Europe, Asia and the US. The country’s main export products are fresh vegetables and fruits; vegetable and animal oils, sugar products, tea, processed vegetables and fruits, beverages, tobacco products, cotton and others.In order to generate reliable food reserves, the government has taken a number of measures to improve the business and investment climate by stimulating producers, providing subsidies, and offering a tax-free investment environment for foreign investors.