Eighth Annual meeting of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network in Europe and Central Asia 30 November 2022 (online)

The Eighth Annual meeting of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network in Europe and Central Asia was held online on 30 November 2022.

The meeting has provided an overview of the current drivers in global and regional markets and their implications for agrifood exports and imports in Central Asia; analysed key changes in trade policies and agricultural support policies in the Central Asian countries in 2022 as a result of the increasing uncertainty in the global food markets; discussed the possible ways to address the risks and challenges posed by the war in Ukraine for agrifood markets and trade in Central Asia, such as: development of the Trans-Caspian route, trade facilitation procedures, opportunities for developing regional value chains, including infrastructure development, digitalization of the cross-border documentation.

The ATEN members, as well as guest speakers from various international organizations/programmes (World Bank, CAREC, TRACECA, USAID), together with invited representatives of the agribusiness associations from the region shared their views on the effectiveness of the adopted trade-related measures in response to the market volatility and on further directions for agrifood trade policies and strategies in the region.