Page 57 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

THE JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SCIENCES: THEORY AND PRACTICE, V.75, # 2, 2018, pp. 47-63

organizations, such as the FAO, International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), IPPC, International
Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and OIE as reliable
partners to further boost sustainable agriculture and food security in the country.

FAO's partnership with Azerbaijan is focused on six priority areas, that include the
promotion of women's representation in rural organizations and income-generating
activities for rural women as a cross-cutting issue: animal health and plant protection;
supporting investments in agriculture, food security and rural development; capacity
development, including agricultural education, research and extension; strengthening
the policy and institutional framework for agriculture and rural development;
improved crop, fisheries and livestock production; sustainable, equitable and efficient
forestry, land and water resource management [FAO, 2018]. FAO Director-General
visited Azerbaijan in 2015 and, in the margins of his visit, 2 agreements (formalizing
the partnership and establishing the new office) were signed [FAO, 2015]. In 2018,
“Azerbaijani Room” was opened at the FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

In Azerbaijan, IFAD’s priority is to reduce poverty and improve living conditions for
disadvantaged rural communities. IFAD’s country strategy programme in Azerbaijan
has 2 main objectives: enhancing natural resource management for improved food
security and helping poor rural people access profitable markets and value chains
[IFAD, 2018].

Azerbaijan is in the process of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). In
this context, Azerbaijan continues plurilateral negotiations on agricultural domestic
support and export subsidies with relevant WTO members. Taking into account recent
developments and future plans aimed to make agriculture strong and competitive, as
well as previous requests of the member countries, Azerbaijan’s goal is to be treated as
a developing country in order to obtain 10% “de minimis” level, as well as benefit from

the provisions of the Article 6.2 of the Agreement on Agriculture of the WTO.
Azerbaijan currently doesn’t apply any agricultural export subsidies and level of
domestic agricultural support is approximately 12%. The agricultural tables reflecting
the calendar years of 2014-2016, as well as replies to the questions of the WTO
members on domestic agricultural support tables have been circulated by the WTO
Secretariat, in June 2017, among WTO members. In this context, the last WTO Working
Meeting on the accession of Azerbaijan to the WTO, as well as plurilateral meeting on
agricultural domestic support was held in July 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland.

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