The Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry Vergina Krasteva was involved in the summit of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Visegrad Group and Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which took place on 12-13 June 2018 in the town of Babolna, Hungary.
The focus points on the agenda were the issues related to the future post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy, an analysis of the latest situation in the milk, pigmeat and sugar markets and an exchange of views on preventive action to stop further spread of African swine fever disease in the EU.
During the meeting, the Ministers (excluding Romania) also signed a Joint Statement on the Future Vision of The Central-Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-based Agriculture,Aquaculture and Forestry in the Bioeconomy – BIOEAST, which Bulgaria joined in September 2017.
By this document, the Parties undertake to set up a Strategic Research and Innovation Programme focused on macro-regional priority areas and aimed at supporting the European Research Area.
The vision of the initiative provides the basis for the development of a macroregional Strategic Research and Innovation Programme (SRIA), which identifies three priority areas: (1) strategic thinking on the bioeconomy, (2) ensuring quality food and feed for Europe and for the world generally, and (3) industrial impetus to rural areas.