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Since 2015, the Investment Centre and the EBRD have helped agribusinesses in various countries diversify production and widen their access to export markets. Their support has covered everything from comprehensive market data and training on market access requirements and export logistics to policy dialogue. With funding from the European Union EU4Business initiative, FAO and the EBRD have assisted Ukrainian millers in increasing exports of higher value products, like flour, groats and other processed goods.

The two institutions regularly use trade missions, business forums and international trade shows to expose local producers and agribusinesses to the latest industry trends and new business opportunities.

For example, they organized trade missions to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia for 15 Ukrainian suppliers of organic food, honey, fruits and vegetables to meet with importers and supermarket chains. A few months later, Ukrainian suppliers sent their first shipments of honey, fruit juices, fresh apples and fresh blueberries to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia; and export volumes continue to expand each month. Singapore is also becoming the fastest growing flour market for Ukraine.

In Serbia, FAO and the EBRD have been strengthening the country’s grain industry to attract greater investment and trade. They have helped raise the profile of the Serbian Grain Association (SGA), which has led to hundreds of new business contacts.

Consultations and policy dialogue with the Serbian Government have enabled many of the domestic grain infrastructure, regulatory and export bottlenecks to be addressed. One example is FAO’s analysis of the legal framework for investing in river infrastructure.

The two institutions have also worked with the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the SGA to improve quality standards. Thanks to discussions between Serbian and Egyptian authorities on the mutual recognition of international sanitary and phytosanitary standards, Serbia can now export wheat to Egypt. FAO and the EBRD are supporting a move toward higher value-added products in the country.