Europese conferentie over voedselveiligheid in oostelijke buurlanden (en)

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 are being discussed at a two-day conference in Cracow on October 27th and 28th.

The conference, hosted by Marek Sawicki, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, has been 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.

The two-day session has convened for consultation and information purposes, and will focus on a review of Eastern Partnership solutions in the area of plant and animal safety and food safety and quality.

‘I hope that today’s initiative shall serve primarily as a forum for debate concerning the prospects and scope for future development of the Eastern Partnership in agriculture,’said Minister Marek Sawicki in his opening address.

The minister declared that food safety and quality are priorities for the European Union. ‘Those priorities are interdependent, and the European Union is making an effort to preserve their top quality. As we have opened up to and begun working together with Eastern Partnership countries, we decided to present them with our standards and ways of achieving them,’ said Minister Sawicki.

The purpose of the Cracow conference has been 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 have been 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 Cracow event has been 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.

The Eastern Partnership is a European Union initiative addressing Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Partnership project was co-drafted in 2008 by Poland and Sweden. In March 2009, the European Council expressed its unanimous support for the initiative, which had then also become part of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The Partnership’s priorities include that of associating the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas in Partnership states with the European Union. Agricultural issues are crucial from the economic and financial perspective.

The agriculture- and food-related integration strategy is essential, as emphasised by representatives of all states participating in the conference. Every Eastern Partnership country has its own solutions, systems, and standards in animal husbandry and food processing, which is why the topic is so important for the matter of introducing a compatible system of food safety management and development of trade cooperation.