(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 4. The United States
Agency for International Development (USAID) is aimed at supporting
exports of Azerbaijani agriculture products, Michael Nehrbass,
Mission Director for USAID in Azerbaijan, told in an exclusive interview.
“We try to keep our focus on increasing exports, and we work
together with Azerbaijani partners to identify barriers and
recommend policy changes. And all this is done with the vision of
promoting growth and the expansion of these businesses, which will
create more jobs. We are really trying to make it easier for
Azerbaijani agriculture enterprises to transport their agricultural
goods to wholesale and retail markets, so those agribusinesses can
access large markets in the city,” he said.
Regarding the regions of Azerbaijan, where USAID provides its
support for the agriculture sector, Nehrbass mentioned several,
such as Lankaran, Samukh, Ganja, Zaqatala, and Khachmaz.
According to the mission head, USAID also promotes
US-Azerbaijani business linkages, which helps introduce new
technologies to Azerbaijan.
The initiative, which is called USAID Private Sector Activity,
uses a partnership and co-investment approach to help create a more
resilient economy that also helps to enhance the business-enabling
environment.
“So, what does it look like for agribusiness, for instance? We
are supporting the growth of agribusinesses by the delivery of the
customized technical assistance. To make it sustainable we utilize
local business development service providers. So, these are
organizations that are already here, in Azerbaijan, speaking the
language, and knowing the country. Together we work on improving
production and marketing of agribusiness,” he explained.
In addition to that, USAID also holds regular working groups
that bring stakeholders and SMEs together with the representatives
from the Ministry of Economy of Azerbaijan, Small and Medium
Business Development Agency, and State Tax Service, Nehrbass
said.
“We convene these working groups so stakeholders can identify
barriers to small businesses, and working groups have produced
action plans to address these challenges,” he noted.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding with Small and Medium
Business Development Agency, USAID aims at supporting the capacity,
productivity and competitiveness of Azerbaijani SMEs, the head of
the mission added.
Further speaking, Nehrbass spoke about the support USAID
provides for Azerbaijani youth. Thereby, USAID has launched
free-of-charge English language courses for young people in
Azerbaijan.
According to the head of the mission, the training is aimed to
improve 'employability' for young people of Azerbaijan.
“We are doing this in Ganja, Zaqatala and Sumgayit. The first 90
participants graduated this year, and the goal is to train 700
people by 2024,” he said.
USAID is implementing a project through the United Nations
Development Program (UNDP) called“Economic Empowerment for
Entrepreneurship and Employment”, which has been operating since
2015, for the employment support for women and youth, Nehrbass
said.
“A part of this activity that focuses on youth began in 2019,
when USAID established professional growth and innovation centers
in Ganja, Zaqatala and Sumgayit, with the support from the Ministry
of Labor and Social Protection of Azerbaijan,” he said.
To date, USAID has provided training in terms of career
planning, professional skill development, and entrepreneurial
thinking to almost 600 young people, the head of the mission
noted.
“The project also provided training for 900 young people online,
during the COVID-19 pandemic. And about 500 young people have been
trained in short-term technical workshops on hard skills, such as
the use of Excel, social media management, graphic design. In
total, this project has trained almost 2,000 young people since
2016,” he added.
USAID is also aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs in
Azerbaijan. In this regard, USAID and and the American Chamber of
Commerce in Azerbaijan (AmCham) are going to present a national
business agenda for women in Azerbaijan.
“USAID engages with AmCham on a regular basis to improve
business environment in Azerbaijan, in particular for women
entrepreneurs. We work together, because AmCham helps us as an
active member of a steering committee, which is devoted to
developing a women's national business agenda,” he said.
According to the head of the mission, USAID has been working
with AmCham and other stakeholders for about a year and a half on
the development of this business agenda, and the formal
presentation to roll out the agenda will be held on November 3,
2022.
Moreover, under the support from USAID, 200 women in Azerbaijan
have already launched their own businesses.
“As of today, we have already trained over 1,000 women in
Azerbaijan,” he said.
According to the head of the mission, USAID funds the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) to train women in running their
own businesses.
“So, together with the UNDP and the State Committee for Family,
Women and Children Affairs, we have established women resource
centers in such regions of Azerbaijan as Masalli, Zagatala,
Khachmaz and Sumgayit, and we also support other 6 centers in other
locations,” he said.
As Nehrbass explained, those centers play multifaceted role.
“The idea is basically in women coming together to receive
business development training, creating network and learning from
each other. And, besides providing businesses development support
to women, these centers also provide crucial assistance to victims
of domestic violence,” he said.
By improving the business environment for micro, small and
medium enterprises, USAID is helping to start businesses that will
help diversify and strengthen the non-oil economy in Azerbaijan,
particularly women-owned businesses, the head of the mission
added.
USAID's overall goal in Azerbaijan is in advancing prosperity
building of people and communities, Nehrbass stressed.
“Over the past 30 years our bilateral partnership is reflected
in USAID's commitment of over $400 million to support Azerbaijan's
humanitarian and development needs. During my time here, I hope to
strengthen our partnerships with the government of Azerbaijan,
donor communities, private sector, and civil society - all in
projects that will help improve the lives of Azerbaijanis,” he
said.
According to the mission head, both the government of
Azerbaijan, and the Government of the US have shared interests.
“For example, enhancing agriculture in Azerbaijan to help
diversify the non-oil economy, strengthening health systems, and
improving the well-being of women and youth – these are our mutual
interests,” Nehrbass said.
Moreover, as the head of the mission pointed out, USAID pays
close attention to the well-being of the internally displaced
people in Azerbaijan.
“USAID has a very strong track record in working in Azerbaijan
to assist IDPs. In early 1990's we have provided support to over
800,000 IDPs in terms of housing, school repairs, primary
healthcare, water, and agriculture. At the moment, we do not have
any activities for IDPs. The US government regularly discusses the
issue with the Azerbaijani counterparts on how we can best support
the IDPs. So, this is something that is ongoing,” he added.
As Nehrbass pointed out, USAID's general priority is on building
a better environment for private sector growth with the emphasis on
agriculture and tourism sectors, as well as the focus on devoting
greater resources on promoting gender equality and women's economic
empowerment. These are the priorities that the mission head for
USAID determined in cooperation with Azerbaijan in coming
years.
“All of these initiatives together intend to create jobs and
raise living standards. We will proceed with our current projects
implementation in supporting women entrepreneurs, agriculture
sector, agritourism, private sector development, combating human
trafficking, developing the capacity of civil society organization,
improving the transparency and responsiveness of the public
institutions, as well as promoting youth development. And I would
like to stress that in all of these projects we work in close
cooperation with the government agencies like the Ministry of Labor
and Social Protection, the Ministry on Internal Affairs, the
Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Economy, and many others,”
the mission director concluded.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: