Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev: Strengthening food security plays important role for Azerbaijan

More than 160 industrial, agricultural, commercial enterprises, including in the service sector, were put into operation in regions of Azerbaijan last year, the Minister of Economic Development Shahin Mustafayev said Tuesday at a conference on the results of the second year of implementation of the State program of social and economic development of regions of Azerbaijan Republic for 2009-2013.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also attended the conference.

According to Mustafayev, the construction of over 200 enterprises, including 12 production facilities for processing agricultural products, also continued last year.

According to him, 112 of these enterprises were financed using the preferential loans of the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Development (NFED). In order to create the infrastructure for the storage of agricultural products, 25 modern refrigeration and storage facilities were built in all regions of the country, with a total capacity of 85,000 tons, and 17 grain storage facilities with a total capacity of 270,000 tons.

Their construction was financed by preferential loans from NFED. In addition, grain elevators have also been commissioned in Sangachal (with a capacity of 100,000 tons), Nakhchivan (30,000 tons) and Ganja (60,000 tons). As a result, demand in this regard was mostly covered.

In order to provide high level services to farmers, new branches of agricultural services have been created in four districts, as well as it is prepared to construct such branches in the five regions. According to the minister, as a result of this work, the demand for a number of agricultural products was covered through the domestic production.

"On the backdrop of problems with food security in the world, the country's food security has been strengthened, the dependence on import has reduced," said Mustafayev.

According to the minister, the exports of non-oil sector grew by 17.8% in 2010 compared with 2009, and the range expanded by 5.6%.


/Trend/