The 4th Annual meeting of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network in Europe and Central Asia (ATEN)

September 12-13, 2018 | Odessa, Ukraine

The ATEN was held on 12-13 September 2018. The ATEN meeting discussed the recent changes in 12 post-Soviet countries’ agricultural trade policies; new government policy measures influencing agricultural exports and imports; progress in multilateral, regional and bilateral trade agreements; and changes in domestic support to agriculture. The ATEN meeting showed that post-Soviet countries improved their integration in global trade, increased the number of bilateral trade agreements and more actively participated in multilateral and regional trade agreements. The export development programmes initiated in many post-Soviet countries aim to facilitate the development of exports of high quality agrifood products and promote relations with new trade partners. The work plan for 2019 was discussed with the ATEN members.

As part of the ATEN meeting, the pilot study on agricultural policy indicators in six post-Soviet countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova) was presented by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (AIS) and country experts and discussed with government focal points from each of the pilot study countries. The quantitative agricultural policy indicators have been developed on the FAO MAFAP methodology. The first results of the study revealed distinct differences in market integration and price support between the six pilot study countries.