SESRIC’s delegation convened with the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (TKDK/ARDSI) at their headquarters to discuss potential collaboration, focusing on agriculture and rural development. The ARDSI located in Ankara, Türkiye, is a relevant organization of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, founded in 2007 as a public institution and accredited by the European Commission in 2011, ARDSI has been implementing Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance Rural Development (IPARD) Programme.

The SESRIC delegates provided an overview of the Centre’s mandates and activities in statistics, socio-economic research, training and technical cooperation and highlighted SESRIC’s Capacity Building Programmes, emphasizing those relevant to ARDSI’s areas of interest, such as the Agriculture and Food Security Capacity Building Programme (Agri-CaB), Environment Capacity Building Programme (Environment-CaB) and Water Resources Management Capacity Building Programme (Water-CaB). The delegation also shared information on the Centre’s planned activities and explored ways to enhance cooperation within these programmes for the agricultural and rural sector across the OIC region.

During the meeting, the SESRIC delegates were briefed on ARDSI’s organisational structure and scope of work as well as ARDSI’s programmes, including the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance Rural Development III (IPARD) Programme, which is being implemented in all 81 provinces of Türkiye and which supports women, youth and young entrepreneurs. ARDSI, as Türkiye’s paying agency for agricultural projects, aligned with the relevant programmes of the EU, has accumulated a significant level of experience over the years, which can guide OIC countries in initiating similar programmes. The ARDSI colleagues expressed their willingness to collaborate and participate in SESRIC’s upcoming programmes, aligning with mutual interests.

The meeting concluded with both parties emphasising a shared focus on knowledge exchange, capacity building and promoting sustainable agricultural and rural development.

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