Serbia, Slovenia to intensify cooperation in agriculture

PARIS/BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia Dejan Zidan agreed during the meeting in Paris that the two countries should intensify their cooperation in various sectors.

According to a release issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, the Thursday talks produced an agreement that expert groups should develop cooperation during their forthcoming meetings in view of improving the promotion of the quality of local agricultural products, creating legal frameworks to protect small agricultural producers in order to improve competitiveness on local and foreign markets and joint presentations on third markets.

They also agreed that joint efforts should be invested in projects aimed at using the EU pre-accession funds.

The Slovenian minister of agriculture communicated the experiences of his country from the EU accession period and the period after obtaining full membership, and experiences and challenges farmers in Slovenia and Serbia were also underscored during the talks.

At the invitation voiced by Bogosavljevic Boskovic, the Slovenian minister will appear as a guest at the forthcoming Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad and the Serbian minister of agriculture will appear as the guest of the Agriculture Fair in Slovenia in August 2015, states the release.

At the invitation by French Minister of Agriculture, Food Industry and Forestry Stephane Le Foll, Boskovic will pay a three-day visit to France and attend the International Agriculture Expo 2015 CIA in Paris.

During the visit, Boskovic will take part in the conference on agriculture and climate changes and the role of public policies.