In the first week of December on St. Nicholas Day, the 6th of December 2023, AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V. celebrated the farewell of the first cohort of Azerbaijani trainees in AKI's history.

The farewell event was held in a hybrid format: this year's host families with 8 trainees as well as the team of AgrarKontakte International (AKI) e.V. including the Chairman of the Board Mr. Hans-Benno Wichert gathered on site in Stuttgart. The partner vocational schools from various regions of Azerbaijan were also connected digitally via video stream. 

After an official welcome by AKI Chairman Mr. Wichert and Ms. Konul Alakbarova, Senior Advisor of the Department of Vocational Education Policy and Training Content of the State Agency for Vocational Education and Training at the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the trainees received their final certificates and, in some cases, awards and prizes for special achievements. Traditionally, representatives of the host families (the Riester family) and the trainees (Gudrat Mammadli) also gave welcoming speeches, reviewing the past traineeship period. All those present praised the successful cooperation and their satisfaction with the results. 

AKI is striving to further develop the partnership with Azerbaijan, which was established in 2023 to implement the traineeship program, in order to contribute to the practical training of young people from the agricultural sector in Azerbaijan. Among other things, the number of Azerbaijani trainees is to get doubled in 2024.