14 February 2024, Ankara – On 6 February 2024, at an inception workshop, FAO and Türkiye launched a new project entitled “Building Capacities through South-South Cooperation (SSTC)”. The project is designed to facilitate SSTC actions between Türkiye and participating countries and enhance the impacts of other projects and activities implemented under the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP II) and the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP). 

Throughout its implementation period, which will last until March 2027, the project will promote and disseminate local, cost-effective and proven development solutions in partner countries, supporting the exchange of expertise, knowledge and experiences for capacity development in specific areas: plant protection, irrigation, seed sectors, apiculture and forestry. 

The project will target a wide array of stakeholder groups including government entities, academic institutions, smallholder farmers, rural women and youth, civil society organizations, the private sector and the public from FTPP II and FTFP beneficiary countries. Implemented in association with relevant FTPP projects, the project is expected to strengthen collaboration through the exchange of technical expertise and the development of joint initiatives. 

The inception workshop commenced with introductory remarks made by Fazıl Düşünceli, Agriculture Officer at the FAO Subregional Office for Central Asia, and Volkan Güngören, Deputy Director-General of the Directorate General for European Union and Foreign Relations of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Türkiye. Düşünceli stressed that the project can further strengthen collaboration among the beneficiary countries of Central Asia, the Caucasus and beyond the subregion, and expressed his hope that these interactions will lead to stronger cooperation and fruitful joint action. Güngören stated that project would enable the distribution of knowledge and experience in various thematic regions with the partner countries and added that the SSTC is an important, well-designed mechanism to promote comprehensive development solutions among the partners and it has a critical role in terms of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a whole.

Following the opening remarks, key experts presented an overview of the project and discussed progress made regarding the implementation of plans for the sharing of technical expertise in the areas of plant protection, irrigation, seed sectors, apiculture and forestry.

About the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes

The objectives of the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programmes are to provide support to ensure food security, rural poverty reduction and sustainable forest management; combat desertification; and preserve ecosystems in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and other countries of mutual interest. 

Established in 2007, the first phase of the FAO-Türkiye Partnership Programme on Food and Agriculture (FTPP) has benefited from trust fund contributions totalling USD 10 million, financed by the Government of Türkiye and represented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. During the first phase of the programme, 28 projects were implemented in 16 countries between 2009 and 2015. 

In 2014, Türkiye and FAO commenced the second phase of the FTPP along with the first phase of the FAO-Türkiye Forestry Partnership Programme (FTFP) with additional funding of USD 20 million, bringing Türkiye’s total contribution to USD 30 million.

LINKS:

·       South-South Cooperation Gateway

·       Central Asian countries benefit from Turkish expertise through South-South Cooperation efforts

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