Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan to set up agricultural consortium
By Aynur Jafarova
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan will establish an agricultural industrial consortium, according to a decision made at a roundtable focusing on the development of regional cooperation in the sectors of agriculture and the processing of agricultural goods, held in the Tajik capital Dushanbe, Tazabek news agency reported with reference to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization portal.
The issue of establishing such a consortium was discussed during the event, which was held under the auspices of the United Nations Development Program. The concept to create such an organization was initiated by the UNDP.
Representatives of the three mentioned countries as well as Russia, Japan, donor organizations such as the UNDP, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union (EU), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency (TIKA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) participated at the discussions.
The consortium will study the potential of the member countries in the agricultural sector and explore their export opportunities.
At the end of the meeting, under the proposal of the Kyrgyz delegation, a unanimous decision to establish a managing body of the consortium and to appoint national coordinators as well as to develop a preliminary feasibility study of the project within a half-year period was adopted.
About 80 percent of the Afghan population is engaged in the agricultural sector. Thus, agriculture is one of the pivotal sectors for the Afghan economy.