EU willing to provide concrete assistance to Montenegro's agriculture sector

Brusels, Belgium (6 November 2013) – Montenegro’s Agriculture Minister Petar Ivanović is paying an official visit to Brussels, where he met yesterday with EU Health Commissioner Tonio Borg. Commissioner Borg said that Montenegro can expect financial support from the EU through its application for EU funding, as well as through technical support in terms of setting up reference laboratories, training programmes and exchange of experts.

When it comes to one of the most demanding criteria - facilities categorisation, Mr Borg said the experience of other member states shows it is a complex procedure, which will be directly supported by the EU during the negotiation process.

Minister Ivanović also met in Brussels with NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges Sorin Ducaru for talks on Montenegro’s NATO accession, as well as possible joint projects in agriculture.

The two officials discussed NATO's engagement in specific projects in which the ultimate beneficiaries would be farmers. "It would be projects linking NATO to agriculture in Montenegro in terms of landmine clearance or removal of substances that can affect soil quality," Minister Ivanović noted.

The meeting also addressed the possibility of including agriculture in the project titled “Science for Peace”, which is being implemented in Montenegro.

“We also addressed two more issues - development of seismic maps in Montenegro and the possibility of establishing a special centre which would mimic conditions for natural disasters occurrence. The construction of such a centre would be an opportunity to better understand consequences of floods and earthquakes, and their impact on the economy and agriculture,” Minister Ivanović underlined.

Minister Ivanović spoke with Director General for Fisheries Lowri Evans about future activities in the fisheries sector in Montenegro. Mrs Evans put a special emphasis on data collection in the field of fisheries, fishing vessels and improvement of control mechanisms in fisheries. Support from the Directorate for Fisheries is possible in the field of IT equipment for monitoring system of total aquaculture, she added, as well as in the construction of fishing ports and spatial planning of the Montenegrin coast for the development of fisheries.

Minister Ivanović met with Deputy Director General for Health and Consumers Ladislav Miko, who underlined that there are EU funds available to Montenegro and that it must seek mechanisms to meet EU requirements related to new technologies and reference laboratories. These efforts will be supported by the European Union, he pointed out.