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2-6 October 2012 - The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food (MAPFU) has agreed to participate in FAO’s Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), a G20 initiative aimed at enhancing food market transparency and encouraging coordination of policy action in response to market uncertainties. MAPFU nominated Serhiy Petrenko, Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Markets and Economic Development, and Yaroslav Cherevychny, Chief of the Agricultural Markets Monitoring and Perspectives Division, to be the focal points. Both of these representatives are active members of a Working Group on the Ukrainian Grain Market, which has been supported by a joint project between FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Reinforcing the Public-Private Dialogue in the Ukrainian Grain Sector.

In March 2012, as part of the joint FAO/EBRD project, the Working Group participated in a study tour organized in Rome and Naples by FAO’s Investment Centre to learn more about grain market analysis, AMIS, FAO’s approach to food security and also to establish links with the Italian grain sector. On this occasion, the Investment Centre and FAO’s Trade and Markets Division emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s participation in AMIS. Under the FAO/EBRD joint project, the Investment Centre has also committed to support Ukraine’s continuing participation in AMIS meetings.

Heike Harmgart, Senior Economist and Project Operations Leader from the EBRD, attended the AMIS meeting and was pleased that the joint project contributed to Ukraine’s participation: “Getting the private sector to engage and interact with AMIS on a regular basis is a key ingredient to improve greater transparency in particular in times of high short term volatility. Engaging the FAO-EBRD Ukrainian Grain Working Group to participate and contribute to AMIS is one tangible example how local public private policy dialogue can support global market transparency.”

With FAO and the EBRD’s support, the Ukrainian delegation participated in the second meeting of AMIS’s Global Food Market Information Group on 2-6 October and entered Ukraine’s official cereal balance sheets into the system following a short training. Abdolreza Abbassian, AMIS Secretary and Senior Economist commented, “Ukraine’s participation brings us a step closer to understanding global market trends through regular data updates on AMIS crops. As a major grain exporter, the country’s involvement is essential in understanding global market perspectives. Thanks to cooperation with the Investment Centre, under its framework agreement with the EBRD, we were pleased to see Ukraine’s delegation participation in this one year anniversary meeting. The National Focal Point for AMIS from Ukraine benefited from the hands-on training and entered the first official estimates into the system during his visit.”

After the meeting, Mr Cherevynchny remarked, “We look forward to continuing to work with FAO, AMIS partners and the Market Information Group to strengthen our dialogue and contribute to data collection so we can all better understand the world market for wheat, maize, rice and soybeans.”

For more information about AMIS, please see: http://www.amis-outlook.org/