Turkmen Team to Attend World Food Forum
Turkmen Team to Attend World Food Forum
Turkmenistan, which is heavily dependent on grain imports, is to send a delegation to the World Food Summit in mid-November.
Jacques Diouf, who heads the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, formally invited President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov to the November 14-18 event when they met at a UN session in New York on September 24.
NBCentralAsia commentators say the Turkmen authorities are concerned that they country could run short of food, even though its closed-off economic system has insulated it from many aspects of global recession.
Turkmenistan does grow grain, but much of it is unsuitable for human consumption so large amounts of higher-quality wheat are imported from Kazakstan and Russia. The restricted supply means it is distributed via a rationing system.
A Turkmen official who did not want to be identified said, “We are interested in working more with the FAO in order to drive forward the agricultural reforms we launched two years ago, and to bring in investment in agriculture and food production.”
Jacques Diouf, who heads the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, formally invited President Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov to the November 14-18 event when they met at a UN session in New York on September 24.
NBCentralAsia commentators say the Turkmen authorities are concerned that they country could run short of food, even though its closed-off economic system has insulated it from many aspects of global recession.
Turkmenistan does grow grain, but much of it is unsuitable for human consumption so large amounts of higher-quality wheat are imported from Kazakstan and Russia. The restricted supply means it is distributed via a rationing system.
A Turkmen official who did not want to be identified said, “We are interested in working more with the FAO in order to drive forward the agricultural reforms we launched two years ago, and to bring in investment in agriculture and food production.”
