Having attended the Conference of Ministers of Agriculture in Berlin, organized as part of the 11th World Food and Agriculture Forum, H. E. Bekir Pakdemirli, the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, has met with H. E. Phil Hogan, European Union (EU) Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner.
In his meeting with the Commissioner Hogan, the Minister Pakdemirli discussed the issues of IPA funds (rural development funds) and the process of harmonization with the EU, and areas of cooperation within the scope of geographical indications and increase in trade.
The Minister Pakdemirli recalled his dissatisfaction with budget cuts for the 2014-2020 period due to the integration of the agriculture and rural development sector with the competitiveness and innovation sector in his meeting with the Commissioner Hogan as part of the G20 Agriculture Ministers Summit held in Argentina in 2018.
The Minister Pakdemirli has stated that as a result of the cut, the budget allocated to the agriculture and rural development sector for the 2018-2020 period was reduced from EUR 504.2 million to EUR 324.1 million and for the institutional capacity building sub-sector it was decided to allocate 10 million euros only in 2020.
Having emphasized that program was successfully completed as a result of the use of 790 million euros allocated to Turkey for the 2007-2013 period, the Minister Pakdemirli has noted that both programs have made great progress in many areas such as food safety, animal welfare, environment, renewable energy, and this progress is important for the improvement in economic and social welfare in rural areas.
"We aim at further cooperation with the EU in terms of geographical indications"
Having said that a meeting aimed at further cooperation with representatives of the European Commission Delegation regarding geographical indications was held in Ankara last year; the Minister Pakdemirli has stated that as a result of the meeting, a decision was taken to initiate a pilot system consisting of 20+20 products in order to in order to ensure a quick way of registration of geographical indication mutually in the EU and Turkey in 2019.
The Minister Bekir Pakdemirli has continued his remarks as follows: "In this context, a list of 20 products which is being prepared by our country will be submitted to the European Commission in 2019. I strongly believe that the pilot system will provide a nice and solid foundation for the cooperation we will make in the next period. I think it will be a guide for our work and will make a great contribution to the acceleration of registration process of our 14 products currently pending in the EU Commission".