Turkiye and Kazakhstan enhance agricultural cooperation with new agreements, aiming for a unified agricultural insurance system across Turkish-speaking countries.
Turkiye’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, İbrahim Yumaklı, has announced that Turkiye’s agricultural insurance expertise will soon be extended to other Turkish-speaking states. The ultimate goal is to establish the Turkish States Organization Agricultural Insurance Union. Yumaklı detailed ongoing efforts to implement a comprehensive agricultural insurance system across Turkish-speaking countries and highlighted recent developments in this initiative.
During a meeting with Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture, Aidarbek Saparov, and his delegation, Turkiye and Kazakhstan signed four cooperation agreements in the agricultural sector. This signing was followed by a joint press conference where Yumaklı expressed the desire to further advance the collaborative efforts between the two countries.
Yumaklı emphasized the role of strong ties between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in facilitating these relations, which have positively impacted bilateral trade. He noted that the trade volume between Turkiye and Kazakhstan exceeded $6.5 billion last year, with aspirations to increase this to $10 billion. Agricultural trade, however, remained below potential at $300 million, a figure Yumaklı aims to significantly improve.
The newly signed agreements include:
- A Goodwill Protocol for Agricultural Research and Cooperation between Turkiye’s General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies and Kazakhstan’s National Agricultural Sciences Education Center.
- An international scientific and practical cooperation protocol between Kazakhstan’s National Agricultural Sciences Education Center and Turkiye’s Beekeepers Union.
- A cooperation protocol between Kazakhstan’s National Agricultural Sciences Education Center and Sivas Science and Technology University.
- A Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in State-Supported Agricultural Insurance between Turkiye’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture.
Yumaklı stated that these agreements would enhance agricultural trade and facilitate the exchange of expertise between the two nations. He also announced that efforts are underway to implement similar agricultural insurance systems in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, with a long-term vision to create the Turkish States Organization Agricultural Insurance Union.
Kazakhstan’s Agriculture Minister Saparov highlighted the increased budget for agriculture this year, which has tripled compared to the previous year. He expressed confidence that the agricultural trade volume between the two countries could be doubled with continued effort and collaboration.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz