Head of Economic Section at the EU Delegation to Serbia Freek Janmaat said Serbia had so far successfully implemented SAA and added that import tariffs had been gradually eliminated without worsening the trade balance.
Speaking at the conference organised by NIN weekly magazine “The Future of Serbian Agriculture” and held at Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Janmaat said it was essential for Serbia to have predictable agriculture policy on which the farmers would base their investment decisions.
He also said the EU would continue to support agriculture and food safety through IPARD Programme.
Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic said the period of transition in the area of agriculture took a long time and added that Serbian agriculture had been in a difficult situation for quite some time.
She said she believed that, once Serbia has become a fully-fledged EU member, Serbian farmers would be ready to compete with European farmers, that is, to offer competitive products.
Boskovic is convinced that the implementation of IPARD, along with various agriculture programmes Serbia had drafted, would help Serbian farmers to prepare themselves for the moment in which common agricultural policy of the EU would be fully implemented in Serbia.
Head of Serbian negotiating team for accession to the EU Tanja Miscevic said that coming period brought another major challenge: “preparing the country to absorb more funding made available upon the accession.”
Miscevic said “it is rather important to understand that we are the ones determining the future of Serbian agriculture, not the EU.”
She said Serbia faced the alignment of its agriculture with extensive common agricultural policy of the EU in the coming phase of negotiations.
Asked to indicate the date of opening the chapters 11, 12 and 13, dealing with agriculture, Miscevic said Serbia planned to prepare Chapter 13 (Fisheries) for the opening, by the end of 2016, adding that the first version of Chapter 13 Action Plan should be drafted in March.
