Director-General and Azerbaijan’s Agriculture Minister talk about a “digital success story”

18 January 2020, Berlin - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and Inam Karimov, Agriculture Minister for Azerbaijan, had a fruitful meeting on the sidelines of the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. 

The minister briefed the Director-General on his country’s e-Agro system, a digital application allowing farmers to share their plans for the future and build relations with the government and access market and logistical information about available fertilizers and veterinary services. 

Qu asked Karimov to introduce to more people on how Azerbaijan is using digital platforms including e-commerce platforms by preparing an introduction to be presented on the FAO web site. 

Success stories on digital societies in rural areas are an excellent way to assess and leverage current possibilities, both men agreed . 

The Director-General explained how he is building a “digital FAO” and for member countries to contribute and share best practices and success stories in the arena of digital agriculture. 

He also emphasized that Azerbaijan has a lot of experience to share with land-locked countries, a priority theme for FAO. The Hand-in-Hand Initiative is designed to promote such sharing, he said. 

The minister noted he is very happy with the current collaboration programme between Azerbaijan and FAO - which has a Partnership and Liaison Office in Baku - and commended the active local office for establishing good relations with his ministry.