All three South Caucasus countries have substantial potential for exporting food and beverages, which is not even approximately fully utilised. One reason for this is that alignment of food production and government food inspection with internationally recognised standards is still in its infancy in the three countries. Thus, improving food safety is a common field for action in all three European Neighbourhood Policy action plans, with the aim of giving new stimulus to trade in agricultural products by removing nontariff barriers.
The objective of the Programme is to strengthen private sustainable financial institutions that provide financial services for micro and small enterprises (MSE) mainly in rural areas and outside of Dushanbe. The overarching developmental goal of the Programme is to contribute to the creation and stabilization of employment and income through deepening and broadening of the Tajik rural financial sector.
Specific objective:
The programme focused on four areas of intervention: (1) Promotion of agricultural and off-farm production by building up services for agricultural production, processing and marketing; (2) Improved access to financial services; (3) Promotion of the potential for cross-border trade; (4) Support for evidence-based and dialogue-based economic policy planning. In these four areas, the aim was to build institutional capacities and the capabilities of partner organisations.
In order to define priorities and develop a harmonized approach to address regional issues related to food safety, it had been necessary to conduct a baseline assessment, which then will be used to programming interventions related to improve the structures (trade, health, on-farm production) relevant to food safety in the respective Central Asian countries.
The main objective of the project was to establish a quality assurance system for wine including an analysis laboratory in Georgia and to guarantee domestic and foreign customers a quality product up to the expectations of international markets.
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