Within the Agricultural Fair held at the Novi Sad Fair from 14th to 20th May 2016, Color Press Group, in cooperation with the magazine “Diplomacy & Commerce” for the first time organised the “International Agriculture & Food Conference”.
Conference was opened by the first secretary of the Embassy Mr. Marco Leone on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. On behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection audience was welcomed the Secretary of State, Mr. Zoran Rajić, and then followed the speeches of Mr. Freek Janmaat, Head of the Economy department of the EU Delegation in Serbia, as well as of Mr. Jean Pierre Gastaud, economic adviser to the French embassy in Belgrade.
During the three panels and four case studies, the greatest experts in the field of food industry, agriculture and land, discussed about current issues concerning agriculture, agricultural machinery, cooperatives, then the Serbian agrarian scene, and about the experience of developed European agriculture and GMO food.
Jean Pierre Gastaud, economic adviser to the French Embassy in Belgrade
France and Serbia both have a strong dedication in agriculture. France is the main agriculture producer in the eU, with some 20% of all EU production. 52% of the French territory is covered with agricultural lands. In Serbia this percentage is 58%, and agriculture amounts to 10% of the country’s GDP. In France there are 13.000 food companies employing 400.000 people. Vojvodina surprised us how big it is and reminded us of some regions in France equally dedicated to cereals. In both countries the farms are family-owned which is very important because of the same spirit and the attachment to the land. Serbia has more than 200 protected denominated agicultural products. We signed many contracts of cooperation between the two countries.