BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Ilkin Seyfaddini - Trend:
Head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of Uzbekistan Adkham Ikramov signed a document to launch a new Resource Efficiency in Agrifood Industry project with a budget of three million euros, Trend reports citing the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan.
As reported, 80 percent of project’s budget will be covered by grant funds of the EU Commission.
The project will cover food industry enterprises located in Bukhara, Ferghana and Tashkent regions and will aim to assist local enterprises in transitioning to green economy by introducing sustainable consumption and production practices in the agricultural sector, the message said.
Within the framework of this project, it is planned to attract highly qualified experts from Germany, Austria and India, with whom the Chamber of Commerce and Industry will work in the following directions during four years:
- Conducting needs assessments and informing small businesses about opportunities to improve their operations through the introduction of resource and energy-saving tools;
- Providing practical assistance to 300 small enterprises in improving their resource and energy efficiency;
- Assisting local financial organizations in introduction of new financing instruments based on the concept of sustainable consumption and production;
- Training of 30 local consultants in resource and energy efficiency issues;
- Promoting the integration of lean production practices into existing agro-clusters; and
- Institutional development of local organizations on the environmental impact of production processes in the long term, etc.
This project is to be launched within the framework of the EU Commission's SWITCH Asia program, with the participation of representatives of a consortium of organizations and consulting companies from Germany, Austria, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
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