Horticultural Value Chain Expert_Technical Assistance for implementation of the EU4Lankaran Programme

Azerbaijan's economy has witnessed strong growth over the last decade with average real GDP growth rate exceeding 10%. Income of population increased by 5.2 times and the poverty rate decreased from close to 50% to 4.9%. However, important disparities remain, notably between the oil-rich capital and the rest of the country, and more generally, between the urban centers and the rural areas. These problems have been exacerbated by the recent oil price driven crisis and reinvigorated the need to revive the economic self-standing of the regions and, more generally, to support the economic diversification of the country. For now the centralised management approach still dominates, although positive changes towards more regionally diversified support measures are expected. In anticipation of this process, the action will target one selected region (Lankaran Economic Region) enabling the project to support local communities in a holistic manner to efficiently address their problems.

The Lankaran Economic Region was selected for this targeted EU assistance Lankaran has the lowest regional economic output and income per capita and the lowest levels of investments per capita. At the same time, the region has undisputed potential in the production of high-value horticultural produce, which can be better marketed in future through improved transport infrastructure, for instance the newly created South-North corridor. Further, the region's features respond to the EU's policy on supporting rural development through measures targeting added values in processing chains, quality schemes, environment, areas with natural constraints, diversification and even rural heritage; iii) the region has not hosted much of the presence of international assistance until now, but has recently received increased Government attention in the form of pilot support to small family businesses.

The technical assistance project consists of two components:

Component 1: Strengthening the capacity of the Government of Azerbaijan for better planning and management of territorial development and smart specialisation strategies, which also will support local businesses facing economic consequences from the COVID-19 outbreak

Component 2: Improving the cooperation and communication between fruit and vegetable sector actors and the enhancement of market access by establishing a modern collaborative network of local economic and community cooperation hubs