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EU extends cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries on agriculture

01 November 2011 10:44 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementeva - APA-Economics. Efforts to bring the laws of the Eastern Partnership countries closer to European Union legislation in the fields of veterinary and phytosanitary issues as well as food safety and quality topped the agenda at a two-day conference in Krakow last week.

The conference, hosted by Marek Sawicki, Polandâ€™s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, was organised within the framework of the Polish Presidency, and attended by representatives of the Eastern Partnership and European Union countries, as well as representatives of the European Commission and European Parliament and of international organisations, associations, and research and development institutes.

According to a Polish Presidency press release, the two-day session focused on a review of Eastern Partnership solutions in the area of plant and animal safety and food safety and quality.

The purpose of the Krakow conference was to discuss the results attained so far from agriculture-related cooperation with the Eastern Partnership states in fields such as veterinary and phytosanitary issues and food safety and quality. All these were debated in detail in the course of four discussion panels. The Eastern Partnership states were provided with an opportunity to offer direct comments concerning the workings of the Partnership to date, and to table their needs and expectations with regard to the Programme in the area of agriculture.

The Krakow event was attended by the vice-ministers for agriculture of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, and by representatives of Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.