Digital Villages in Action in Europe and Central Asia

FAO, along with its partners in Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan, is taking action to accelerate the digital transformation of agriculture and rural areas through the Digital Villages Initiative (DVI). 

Join us for the “Digital Villages in Action in Europe and Central Asia” virtual event, where we will launch DVI actions in eight countries, bringing together policy actors, stakeholders, partners, and beneficiaries. The event will be held on Zoom on 18 May 2023, from 09.30 to 12.00 (CEST) with English-Russian interpretation. 

DVI is a corporate initiative of FAO that aims to convert at least 1000 villages around the world into Digital Villages. With DVI, FAO is supporting a digital rural transformation process to address agrifood systems’ challenges and improve the livelihoods and resilience of rural communities.  

The vision of DVI in Europe and Central Asia is to empower every rural community to utilize digital technologies, leveraging their local strengths. It takes a participatory approach, co-creating interventions with rural communities to enhance their capacities and build resilience, ensuring long-term sustainability. Additionally, DVI aims to foster linkages and cooperation across villages and institutions through "DVI twinning", encouraging the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and technology transfer at the national, regional or international level.  

During this event, high-level officials and technical experts will share their vision for promoting DVI in their respective countries. Additionally, it will showcase past achievements, interim results, and best practices in digital agriculture that provide solid grounds for the implementation of DVI. The event will also feature a live session from the field in Uzbekistan's future Digital Village Novkent, where FAO brings IoT smart devices into smallholders’ greenhouses, develops digital literacy, and stimulates innovation. 

Provisional agenda: 

Welcome and opening remarks by Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General, Regional Representative, and Maximo Torero, FAO Chief Economist  

Introducing the Digital Villages Initiative in Europe and Central Asia by Daniela Di Gianantonio, FAO Digital Agriculture Team Leader

Ministerial roundtables where deputy ministers and high-level officials from Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan will share their vision for promoting the initiative in their respective countries and region:  

• Sarvan Jafarov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Azerbaijan 
• Alisherov Nurdin Kuvanychbekovich, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Kyrgyz Republic 
• Metin Türker, Director General of Agricultural Research and Policies of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Republic of Türkiye  
• Ramin Gasanov Alievich, Director of Investment and Grants Department of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Uzbekistan 
• Other high-level representatives from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tajikistan, and Georgia 

Experiences from project countries will showcase results, best practices, and achievements in the field of digital agriculture that are providing solid grounds for the implementation of the initiative, with: 

• Barbara Battioni Romanelli, UN Fellow, FAO Albania  
• Elmaddin Namazov, National Programme Coordinator, FAO Azerbaijan  
• Grujica Vico, National Digital Villages Specialist, FAO Bosnia and Herzegovina  
• Dragan Angelovski, Technical Adviser, FAO
• Kanat Sultanaliev, Executive Director, Tian Shan Policy Center of the American University of Central Asia (tbc) 
• Veronika Sherova, Digital Agriculture Analyst, FAO
• Frank Hollinger, Senior Rural Finance Officer, FAO (tbc)  
• Fenton Beed, Senior Agricultural Officer, FAO (tbc) & Katerina Antanevich, Digital Agriculture Specialist and Sociologist at FAO, who will join the session live from village Novkent  

Closing remarks by Dejan Jakovljevic, FAO Chief Information Officer, and Raimund Jehle, FAO Regional Programme Leader

Join us to learn about DVI in the region!

Together, we can advance the digitalization of agriculture and rural areas across Europe and Central Asia. 

Register