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Discussions were held on the food business at the forum held by the Public Council under SMBDA 23.01.20

The first forum held by the Public Council under the Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) in 2020 is dedicated to the food industry.

Representatives of SMBDA, Food Safety Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, and other relevant government agencies, as well as business entities operating in the food sector, attended the “Food Business Forum: Current Situation and Prospects,” organized on January 23.

At the event, topical issues in the food industry, legislative changes, and the work done in this area, cooperation between public and private institutions were discussed, entrepreneurs received answers to their questions of interest, and the proposals of business entities were addressed. It was noted that the ideas, opinions, and proposals made at the forum, will be submitted to the relevant bodies accordingly.

Orkhan Mammadov, Chairman of the Board of SMBDA, said that there are many entrepreneurs in the food sector. Only in 2019, more than 10,000 business entities were registered in this area. The right and efficient organization of business in this area is important in terms of food safety. There is a need to increase the knowledge and skills of SMBs, expand the scope of awareness-raising events, focus on sales and logistics of locally produced food products, and promote state support mechanisms for the efficient organization of business in the food sector.

In their speeches, Elchin Zeynalov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, and Rufat Rustamzadeh, Deputy Chairman of the Food Safety Agency, said that food industry is one of the priority areas of the non-oil sector, and provided information on the measures taken, changes made to the legislation, and projects in this area recently.

Furthermore, video clips were presented on the support mechanisms of SMBDA for micro, small and medium businesses.

Farhad Garashov, Chairman of the Public Council under SMBDA spoke about the purpose of the forum, and activities of the Public Council under SMBDA. It was noted that events are regularly held in tripartite format with the participation of SMBs, relevant government agencies, and civil society organizations. In 2019, six public forums on various topics were organized by the Public Council under the SMBDA and such events will be continued through 2020.