Tajikistan

<p><span lang="EN-US">The project titled &ldquo;Enabling Market Access for Tajik Agricultural Products through Improved Food Safety System&rdquo; with the support of The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan and the Ministry of Agriculture, aims to improve food safety and export competitiveness of Tajik SMEs through better use of agri-chemical and veterinary medicines. The focus sectors of the project are apricots and honey. Through implementation of a number of activities, the project aims to enable the access of Tajik honey and apricots SMEs to access other international markets.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN-US">The project will propose modernization of the legal framework for controlling the use of agri-chemicals and veterinary medicines. A series of training activities, both for the public sector representatives and private stakeholders will be held. The training for the public officials will help them implement the control system proposed while those for private stakeholders aim to improve the safe use of the agri-chemicals and veterinary medicines, while also building relevant business linkages.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN-US">In addition to that, Access to finance trainings to SMEs will be provided. This aims at enhancing the financial capacity of the producers to accede to the right inputs for safer production and to the processors to accede to the right inputs and technology for safer processing and compliance with international requirements.&nbsp;</span></p>

<p>The project for Tajikistan is developed within the framework of the GTEX programme and will build upon the achievements of the previous technical assistance projects delivered by ITC in cooperation with SECO. The project will assist Tajik TISIs to improve and sustain their operational and managerial capacities further to offer a wider range of quality services to SMEs in the T&amp;C sector. Support will be provided to TISIs through training and advisory services in sector-specific business areas where relatively stable demand from SMEs is already observed, as well as in the areas where demand from SMEs is foreseen in the near future. Building upon the achievements of previous ITC interventions in the T&amp;C sector in Tajikistan the project will continue to support selected SMEs by connecting them to markets and value chains. This assistance will be provided jointly with local TISIs enabling them to gradually take over the provision of this service.</p><p>The project will assist in implementation of trade facilitation reforms with a specific focus on the T&amp;C industry to ensure that T&amp;C businesses fully benefit from an improved cross-border environment. It will support the TTFC and the TTFC Secretariat to issue recommendations for the simplification and standardization of textile related import, export and transit formalities&nbsp;</p>