Azernews.Az

By Ofeliya Afandiyeva

From 2020, the process of issuing subsidies in Azerbaijan’s agricultural sector will be carried out online, Azerbaijani Agriculture Minister Inam Karimov said.

Karimov made the remarks in an address to the seminar titled “Mobilizing Involvement and Investment of the Private Sector in Implementing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in food and agriculture in Azerbaijan” held with financial and technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Baku on December 17.

The minister noted that the electronic agricultural system has already been launched and is operating.

“Over 420,000 entrepreneurs are registered in this system and over 240,000 farmers have entered information on the sown area into the system; this will create conditions for more transparent allocation of subsidies. The state provides support to the agricultural sector, and this process will continue,” he stated.

Karimov stressed that the new system, created in a public-private format, will enable the government to prevent the risks that could arise in the agrarian sector.

The Minister presented the newly established agricultural insurance mechanism as one of the best examples of public-private partnerships in the agricultural sector, which will operate next year.

It should be mentioned that the agricultural insurance mechanism was developed by a working group subordinate to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Agriculture with the participation of the representatives of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Justice, Azerbaijan's Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA) and the State Committee on Property Issues.

The experience of such advanced countries as the U.S., Canada, Spain, Turkey and Israel was explored and taken into account while developing the mechanism. The meetings and discussions were held with the specialists in the field of agriculture from these countries. At the final stage, a model was prepared on the basis of the cooperation between the public and private sectors.

For the first time, a new insurance mechanism envisages the creation of a collective insurance system in Azerbaijan. The participants are insured through aggregate funds thanks to such a system by creating collective insurance capital. As opposed to the rules of insurance companies, if there are no insurance cases, these funds are not nullified, but are transferred to the next year.

The system will relieve the state budget of the excessive burden in cases of natural disasters and catastrophes.

These measures are expected to serve to an increase in GDP of the non-oil sector of the economy, ensure food security and attract investments in the agricultural sector.

Law "On Agricultural Insurance" and the establishment of the Agrarian Insurance Fund was signed by the Azerbaijani President on August 19, 2019.

Note that the seminar is aimed at raising awareness on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development among the private sector and facilitating a discussion between government and private sector on their role and involvement in SDGs implementation in Azerbaijan.

Participants of the event exchanged knowledge and best practices from the region on the integration of SDGs in private sector business models and sustainable reporting, as well as ways to mobilize national private sector engagement in areas of joint interest with a specific focus on climate change and nationally-determined contributions.

The event brought together 150 participants representing the government agencies, international organizations, private sector and civil society.

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