BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 21. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is aimed at supporting exports of Azerbaijani agriculture products, Michael Nehrbass, Mission Director for USAID in Azerbaijan, told Trend.
“We try to keep our focus on increasing exports, and we work together with Azerbaijani partners to identify barriers and recommend policy changes. And all this is done with the vision of promoting growth and the expansion of these businesses, which will create more jobs. We are really trying to make it easier for Azerbaijani agriculture enterprises to transport their agricultural goods to wholesale and retail markets, so those agribusinesses can access large markets in the city,” he said.
Regarding the regions of Azerbaijan, where USAID provides its support for the agriculture sector, Nehrbass mentioned several, such as Lankaran, Samukh, Ganja, Zaqatala, and Khachamaz.
According to the mission head, USAID also promotes US-Azerbaijani business linkages, which helps introduce new technologies to Azerbaijan.
The initiative, which is called USAID Private Sector Activity, uses a partnership and co-investment approach to help create a more resilient economy that also helps to enhance the business-enabling environment.
“So, what does it look like for agribusiness, for instance? We are supporting the growth of agribusinesses by the delivery of the base customized technical assistance. To make it sustainable we utilize local business development service providers. So, these are organizations that are already here, in Azerbaijan, speaking the language, and knowing the country. Together we work on improving production and marketing of agribusiness,” he explained.
In addition to that, USAID also holds regular working groups that bring stakeholders and SMEs together with the representatives from the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, Small and Medium Business Development Agency, and State Tax Service, Nehrbass said.
“We convene these working groups so stakeholders can identify barriers to small businesses, and working groups have produced action plans to address these challenges,” he noted.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding with Small and Medium Business Development Agency, USAID aims at supporting the capacity, productivity and competitiveness of Azerbaijani SMEs, the head of the mission added.
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