Golubovic: Farmers need stronger support

BERLIN- Serbia is among a small number of SEE countries running a trade surplus in agricultural and food products, State Secretary at the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Danilo Golubovic said Monday, addressing the Agricultural Ministers' Summit in Berlin.

Golubovic pointed to the need for increasing the added value of export products and for strengthening market chains, specifying that this can be achieved through a synergy of cross-border political and economic cooperation.

Support should be provided to farmers in order to secure the production of sufficient quantities of quality foods, he underlined.

The Agricultural Ministers' Summit and the 7th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture were held during the International Green Week in Berlin. The main topic this year was "Growing demand for food, raw materials and energy: Opportunities for agriculture, challenges for food security".

The Summit was chaired by German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Christian Schmidt, and attended by more than 70 agriculture ministers from around the world, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan, and Director-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Jose Graziano da Silva.

In the course of the visit, head of the Serbian delegation met with agriculture ministers of Slovenia, Austria, Croatia and Montenegro, and discussed opportunities for enhancing bilateral cooperation.

The delegation of Serbia also participated in the meeting of the working group for agriculture and food industry, within the Serbia-Germany Business Council. The meeting, attended by members of the Serbian and German business communities, focused on new areas of economic...