Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs of the Ministry of Rural Development Gyula Budai and his negotiating partner, State Secretary of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Danilo Golubovic agreed at their Sunday meeting in Gornji Breg (Felsőhegy), Vojvodina, to further increase cooperation in agriculture between Hungary and Serbia.
The two politicians met at the Carpathian Basin Harvest Festival and discussed further opportunities for cooperation between the two countries. Gyula Budai informed Hungarian news agency MTI about the meeting and the Harvest Festival in a telephone interview.
He informed the press that the possibility of marketing high quality, traditional foods produced in Vojvodina, such as honey and sausages, in Hungary had been discussed, something that Hungarian farmers' associations in Vojvodina are also keen to support. State Secretary Golubovic also stated that Serbia would like to see the stronger presence of Hungarian agricultural enterprises in Vojvodina and welcome Hungarian investors. In this respect, Serbia is open both to the establishment of 100 percent Hungarian owned enterprises and joint ventures.
According to the Ministry's Parliamentary State Secretary, Hungary's wide-raging experience means it could provide significant help to Serbia within the field of agriculture towards the Balkan nation's recently started EU accession process. Hungary could share its experiences with regard to EU accession negotiations, in addition to which it could inform Serbia about the most important agriculture-related opportunities in the upcoming 2014-2020 EU financial period.
For this reason, the Ministry of Rural Development is organising an information forum in Vojvodina with the participation of several other Hungarian ministries, aimed at preparing Hungarian farmers in the region for EU membership. Minster of State Budai noted that the recent visit to Serbia by President of the Republic János Áder had given significant impetus to the development of bilateral relations.
With regard to the 12th Carpathian Basin Harvest Festival held in Felsőhegy, Gyula Budai informed MTI that he had opened the Festival jointly with his Serbian counterpart. 25-30 harvesting teams arrived from around Vojvodina, Hungary and Transylvania for the Festival. At the event, the Ministry of State met with members of Hungarian farmers' associations in Vojvodina and with Hungarian members of the Serbian Parliament from Vojvodina.
The Minister of State indicated that he had invited his Serbian colleague to this year's National Agriculture and Food Industry Exhibition (OMÉK), to be held in Budapest in September, and had agreed to continue negotiations there.
(MTI)
