SARAJEVO – Head of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina and EU Special Representative in BiH, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, welcomed representatives of 12 farmers’ associations coming from eight EU Member States for a three-day visit to BiH on 15 May, at the EU Delegation/EUSR in Sarajevo.
Ambassador Wigemark briefed the guests from Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Spain and UK on EU-BIH relations, progress in the accession path as well as on the state of play in the agriculture and rural development sectors.
“Your coming here and sharing your experience, your understanding as EU Member State experts, representatives of various national, even PanEuropean associations to explain how the EU agricultural policy works in practice is very important so that people here – both officials in the ministries but also others, in particular your counterparts, can understand”, said Ambassador Wigemark in his address to representatives of the EU MS farmers’ associations.
Addressing the media prior to the meeting, Ambassaador Wigemark called on BiH authorities to urgently adopt the state-level agricultural strategy.
“In the absence of a common strategy for the whole country we are not really able to provide much of assistance“, said Ambassador Wigemark
The visit is one of a series of study visits that the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) organises for different stakeholder organisations from the EU Member States.
It is addressed to agriculture organisations from EU Member States to showcase best practices from the EU in a dialogue with local stakeholders – ministries, agricultural institutes, civil society, academia and farmers – and share information about the agriculture and rural development in the context of the EU approximation process.
During their stay, visiting representatives will also visit some of the successful examples in BiH, such as the Milkos dairy establishment in Sarajevo, Livač cooperative and the EU-funded Centre for Economic and Rural Development in Laktaši.