The First Working Group meeting on Agriculture Cooperation of the Organization of Turkic States was held on 19 October 2021 via an online format. The meeting was attended by more than 35 government officials and experts from the Member and Observer States namely Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye, Uzbekistan and Hungary. During the meeting, the Parties provided information on their current situation in the field of agriculture, ongoing reforms, new digital transformation tools applied in agriculture, as well as briefed them about the projects and prospects for future collaboration within the organization. The Member and Observer States stressed the need for joint efforts and actions to build up synergies at the regional level to enhance food security and agricultural productivity through cooperation on capacity-building and technology transfer, in close partnership with international organizations, such as IFAD, FAO and South-South cooperation.

Secretariat of the Organization of Turkic States held an online meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and National Land Centre of Hungary with the assistance of the Budapest Office of the Organization on 8 December 2021. During the meeting, participants exchanged views on the perspectives of establishing close collaboration in agriculture development, with a particular interest in the knowledge transfer in farming, horticulture, animal husbandry, irrigation development and water-saving technologies. Parties also discussed the engagement of agricultural business communities from Hungary in the “Turkic Agro-Forum” planned to be held in Uzbekistan in 2022 to activate B2B and G2B cooperation between the member countries in the field of agriculture.

The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened the First Meeting of the Ministers in Charge of Agriculture on 4 July 2022 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Ministers shared the latest developments in the field of agriculture in their respective countries as well as the recovery plans in the post-pandemic period. They also underlined the importance of developing joint program and projects, involvement of private sector and attraction of investments among the Member and Observer States to increase trade in agriculture products in the region. Referring to agriculture as one of the crucial areas for economic development, Parties expressed their willingness to strengthen relations among the Member and Observer States in this sphere and confirmed their readiness to deepen mutually beneficial collaboration in agriculture and develop experience sharing programs with each other.

As the outcome of the meeting, the Parties signed “Communiqué of the First Meeting of Ministers in Charge of Agriculture of the Organization of Turkic States” which presents the general framework for the future collaboration and activities, including the promotion of innovation in institutions, policies, science and technology, improvement of agricultural productivity, inheritance and development of good agricultural practices, creation a balance in the supply of food products based on the maturation of crops, improvement access to inclusive financial services, loans or credit, improvement ICT exchange in agriculture and cooperation, development and implementation of appropriate action plans to address major issues in agriculture and carry out various concrete projects in this field. Parties agreed to establish five sub-groups under the Working Group on Agriculture Cooperation for the implementation of the above-mentioned issues.

The Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Turkic Chamber of Commerce and Industry (TTCI) organized the First Turkic Agro-Forum on 4 July 2022 in Tashkent. The Forum was held within the framework of the 1st Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture and aimed at creating a single discussion platform on key issues of agricultural cooperation in the Turkic region and promoting the interaction of business circles in expanding trade in agriculture among the OTS Member and Observer States.

More than 300 officials of relevant ministries, representatives of international and regional organizations and leading companies in the field of agriculture from member and observer countries took part in the Forum. Within the Forum program thematic sessions with speeches and presentations of investment proposals in the agricultural sector, company projects and opportunities to expand cooperation with business structures took place. In addition, B2B meetings and bilateral negotiations served as a suitable place for communication and establishing new contacts between forum participants.

The 3rd Working Group meeting on Agriculture Cooperation and 2nd Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture of the OTS, as well as the “2nd Turkic Agro-Business Forum” convened on 25-26 September 2023 in Baku. At the 2nd Meeting of the Ministers of Agriculture, stressing the importance of agriculture for the economic and social development of the Turkic States, the Secretary General Omuraliev briefed the Ministers about the current activities and further actions to be implemented within the OTS in order to achieve greater economic integration in the field of agriculture.

The Ministers and Heads of Delegations also emphasized the potential for cooperation in all areas of agriculture within the framework of OTS and agreed to use these opportunities to expand mutually beneficial cooperation. Increasing trade turnover in agricultural and food products, promotion of mutual investments, transfer of modern technologies in the field of agriculture, mutual exchange of best practices, effective management of land and water resources, promotion of agricultural insurance system and realization of projects of mutual interest among the OTS countries were identified as the main directions of future cooperation.

The Secretary General underlined the role of “Drought Prevention Institute” established under the OTS to mitigate challenges resulted from climate change; further promote expertise and knowledge sharing, concentrate the efforts to research and development; to focus more on creating value chains and food security through the establishment of new production and distribution systems.

The Parties also proposed to prepare annual “Turkic Agriculture and Food Security Outlook” as a first step to creation of a single data driven “digital agro-data platform” of the Turkic States, to establish a joint production of agricultural and food products under the OTS brand and declare the city of Quba of the Republic of Azerbaijan as the agro capital of the OTS for the next one-year period in a rotational basis among the countries of Organization.

At the end, the “Communique of the 2nd Meeting of Agriculture Ministers of the OTS” was signed.