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03.05.2008

Azeri gov’t to step up effort on food safety

A state program on ensuring food safety will be developed in Azerbaijan, officials said.Along with food safety, it will cover other fields, Economic Development Minister Heydar Babayev told reporters on Friday. He said that although preparation of the program has been vested in the Cabinet of Ministers, non-governmental organizations and the world’s leading experts will be drawn to the process as well. The program envisions support to the National Fund for Assistance to Entrepreneurship and ways of improving its activity. It will also outline priority fields and future activities. President Ilham Aliyev on Thursday enacted a decree on preparing the State Program on Reliable Supplies of Food to the Population. The document stresses that fully meeting the demand for basic foods in the country on account of domestic production has not been possible so far. It said the fact that the demand is considerably above supply in world markets has led to hikes in prices for food, which is taking a toll on the Azerbaijani market. This adversely affects food supply and living standards of the population, in particular, low-income people. The situation requires seriously addressing issues on maximally reducing dependence of the domestic market on the imports of food and creating food reserves. Considering all this, President Aliyev instructed the government to develop a draft of the mentioned program over three months to ramp up agricultural production and to improve food supply to domestic consumers. “President Ilham Aliyev’s decree is a pivotal document that should be assessed highly,” said head of the Economic and Social Development Center, economist Vugar Bayramov. He emphasized that food shortage has turned into a serious problem worldwide. Moreover, food producers have either reduced or stopped food exports, which is making things even worse. “Kazakhstan has already suspended grain exports, while India reduced rice exports by up to 40 per cent. The price for grain in world markets has risen 130 per cent in the past year alone, while the price for rice increased by more than 20 per cent in March alone. Exporting countries are primarily trying to meet domestic demand now.” The expert said it was important to find an alternative source of grain supplies to Azerbaijan. Therefore, reserves of grain should be created while taking into account the needs of the population for at least half a year, Bayramov said.*

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03.05.2010

GILAN HOLDING

GILAN HOLDING

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Azeri gov’t to step up effort on food safety

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