DUSHANBE, Ferbuary19, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Tajikistan is currently drafting a number of laws to promote development of seed growing and selection work in the country, Agriculture Minister Qosim Qosimov remarked at a meeting with Ms. Ulla Andren (phonetically spelled), the chairperson of the Swedish Internal Development Agency (Sida) regional Department for Europe, and Mr. Rutger Person (phonetically spelled), the manager of the Support to Seed Sector Development in the Republic of Tajikistan Project, according to Narzullo Dadaboyev, a spokesman for the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA).

The sides discussed the progress of implementation of the project in the country.  They, in particular, discussed information of the project manager about shortage of financial means for achievement of the goals set to strengthen the resource-and-technical base of seed-trial and selection programs and discussed the outcomes of the educational component of the project.  During the meeting, it was noted that training courses had been organized for the seed inspectorate specialists and five students from Tajikistan were currently studying at Swedish Agriculture University.

Ms. Andren arrived in Tajikistan to monitor implementation of the Support to Seed Sector Development in the Republic of Tajikistan Project, the spokesman said.

Sida, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, is a government agency under the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Sida''s goal is to contribute to making it possible for poor people to improve their living conditions.  Sida is a global organization with its head office in Sweden.

Sida has been active in Tajikistan since 1997. For a number of years, Sweden''s help primarily focused on humanitarian assistance. This help was channeled through the UN and the Red Cross, and was primarily devoted to food aid, primary health care, coordination of development assistance and disaster preparedness.  In the early 21st century, this support was changed into long-term development cooperation, and Sida opened an office in Dushanbe in 2004.  Sida''s efforts are designed to reduce poverty.  Priority is given to measures that lead to concrete, visible results and which agree with Tajikistan''s own poverty strategy.  Cooperation with the country will be successively phased out to 2010.