Cooperation with Hungary, Austria and Germany for more efficient use of 60 million euros from EU funds

(Sasa Dragin and Adriano Martins)

Serbia has started implementation of the agricultural cooperation project with Hungary, Austria and Germany, which will enable it to receive about 60 million euros per year from the EU funds.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Sasa Dragin attended yesterday (August 5, 2010) an initial meeting as part of a project to boost Serbia’s capacity for accepting EU funds for rural development in the pre-accession period.

At the meeting in the Palace of Serbia, Dragin pointed out that after receiving accreditation from the EU Serbia will be able to receive up to €60 million from Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD) funds annually, and added this project is very important because it will enable the Ministry to use these funds.

He said that end-users – farmers will take the greatest benefit from this because apart from the funds they receive from the national agricultural budget, they will also be able to take IPARD funds.

The Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management stated that the value of the project is €2 million and that the project should last two years.

The project will be implemented by a consortium of three EU member states, namely Hungary and its partners in Austria and Germany.

The meeting was attended by Deputy Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Adriano Martins and President of the Hungarian payment agency Peter Palkovic.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Waterpower Engineering

Sasa Dragin

EU funds

Palace of Serbia

IPARD funds

Adriano Martins

Peter Palkovic