Minister Simović: We need to be more efficient in pulling back generous EU funds available to Montenegro's agriculture

Podgorica, Montenegro (17 January 2017) -- Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro Milutin Simović called on all stakeholders in the agricultural sector, employees in the relevant departments, as well as farmers, to maximise and join their efforts in order to become more effective in pulling back the increasingly generous EU funds that are available to the Montenegrin agriculture.

At today’s presentation of a new public call for the IPARD like 2.2, organised for representatives of relevant state and municipal institutions and services, Minister Simović said that this is another opportunity for the improvement of the agricultural sector, but also for strengthening the absorptive capacity of the competent institutions and services, in order to help farmers to timely and high-quality apply to this and next public calls for grant support.

The aim of the public call, he explained, is to further comply the processing plants with the demanding food safety standards, to raise competitiveness of farmers and increase their income, create added value in the food sector and contribute to reducing the trade deficit.

"This project is financed from EU grant funds in the amount of EUR 2.8 million, along with additional funds from the national budget. As you can see, the amount of support is growing and this time the scope of eligible investment ranges from EUR 15,000 to EUR 250,000, which will be supported by 50% of grant support. This creates an opportunity to get a EUR 125,000 grant support per project. I hope that we will have more such projects," Minister Simović stressed.

He pointed out that the serious approach to the implementation of the project is practically a warm-up for great temptation that lie ahead of Montenegro, referring to the beginning of implementation of the full IPARD programme totalling EUR 39 million.

"These are great funds that will be available to Montenegro due to EU pre-accession support. Allocations for agriculture from the national budget are also rising, so that we all together need to try to use them for the purpose of accelerating the development of the Montenegrin agriculture. It is luxury to have so many millions and not be willing to pull them back. This is a big challenge for users, but also the administration, and that is why a key reason for today's meeting of representatives of the competent services at the state and municipal level is to call on all stakeholders to pledge full commitment to the implementation of the public calls and all projects in this area," Minister Simović concluded.