Ukraine is going to cooperate with EU in development of rural areas

“Ukraine is going to step up agricultural exports to the EU. We are ready to intensify cooperation with the aim of expanding the access of agricultural products to the European market”, Oleksii Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, noted during a meeting with Phil Hogan, the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.  

The Minister drew attention to the positive dynamics of trade development with the EU over the past few years. In particular, at the conclusion of 2015, the foreign trade turnover between Ukraine and the EU countries amounted to $5.9 billion. Thus, the EU’s share in the total structure of foreign trade turnover in agricultural products accounts for 31.7%.

During the meeting, Oleksii Pavlenko also noted the effective cooperation between the parties, in particular, with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development in the framework of Dialogue between Ukraine and the EU on agricultural issues. The Minister spoke in support intensification of the Dialogue’s meetings and suggested to define their format.

“The development of rural areas is an important direction of agricultural policy, which is being implemented by the Ministry. The basic principles of rural development are set forth in the Unified Comprehensive Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development in Ukraine 2015-2020. We are looking for the EU’s support in implementing this Strategy”, the Minister stressed.

The Minister informed that the Action Plan for 2016 had been prepared to implement the Strategy. This process involved direct support from the EU and the expert community advice together with the working group at the Ministry of Agrarian Policy. This document consists of the Action Plan for the Ukrainian Government, the key provisions of the Strategy 2020 and proposals from the donor community and experts.

“The Action Plan 2016 was approved by the Special Board of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy jointly with the donors on March 3^rd, 2016. This event was the first event ever in the history of the Ministry where all the donors involved in the development of the agrarian sector of Ukraine, were present at the presentation of plans and priorities of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and distribution of responsibilities for each direction between the officials”, the Minister added. 

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