BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 10. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is interested in cooperation with the government of Azerbaijan to participate in the country's agricultural sector, ADB Country Director for Azerbaijan, Sunniya Durrani-Jamal, told Trend during the presentation of the Asian Development Outlook 2026 review in Baku.
"Azerbaijan is an exporter of agricultural products and has several high-quality goods that are supplied to foreign markets. At the same time, the country imports a part of the food. In the context of the current conflict [in the Middle East], one of the areas where price growth is expected is fertilizers. This, in turn, will lead to a growth in the costs of agricultural production in Azerbaijan and will become one of the channels of increasing food inflation," she said.
Durrani-Jamal noted that Azerbaijan imports certain agricultural products from neighboring countries. Due to this, the price increase for potatoes and other products can additionally affect food inflation. According to her, its acceleration is expected in the short term, including against the background of rising production costs.
"Production costs will increase, as well as the prices of imported food products. As for our participation, we are currently investing in the water sector, since water is a key element of agriculture. We are talking about water supply projects, wastewater treatment, and solving water deficit problems.
We are directly involved in agriculture through operations with the private sector. Investments with the government haven't yet been implemented. However, we are interested in entering the agricultural sector, and plan to study such opportunities this year," she added.
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