EU – Market Integration and Competitiveness
in Food Industry
Programme Description
Programme Overview
Programme Description
Situation
The political and economic changes in the South-Eastern European countries together with the liquidation of the large state-owned companies and the loss of marketing routes resulted in a dramatic decline of agricultural production and food availability. In view of the great importance of agricultural and food sectors for economic and social development in these countries InWEnt supports necessary measures for adaptation and in particular for promotion of the European integration processes.
Objective
The program efficiently supports the sustainable building of a competitive food economy in the partner countries. That way it contributes to the guarantee of equal opportunities in the EU integration process.
PO 1: EU quality standards and norms are implemented and controlled. The conformity with the EU quality and safety standards and norms will create the preconditions for high food security. They create the preconditions for high food security, consumer protection and access to domestic and international markets.
PO 2: Organisations in the fields of production, consulting and marketing work customer-oriented and are aware of their tasks in the frame of an effective implementation of the market integration.
PO 3: Regional networks and fora for dialogue are established and effectively promote further development of regional cooperation between the South Eastern European partner countries.
Concept
The cooperation is concentrated on the EU accession countries Bulgaria and Romania, and Macedonia as candidate for the EU-membership. Other countries like Albania and Montenegro may join occasionally. Different events will take place primarily in Germany to give the participants a possibility to collect experiences in the EU on the example of Germany.
The short-term measures aim at multiplicators and decision-makers of the agricultural and food sectors, in particular from state, semi-public and private organizations, from public administration, as well as from production, processing and marketing.
This long-term measures aim at young and qualified farmers, who work on their own farms or on the farms of their parents.
Contents
The program covers three components beginning in 2005:
Promotion of reform process and integration of food economy, agreement on need of training and support (coaching), regional network / internet portal: the GC21 platform RDM:
“Network for Regional Development and Market Integration”.
Quality standards in the food economy: a series of seminars
- Requirements to food quality control (products of plant origin)
- Regional processing and marketing chains in the dairy industry
- Improvement of the organisation form of interest groups and marketing organizations in the dairy industry
Promotion of private initiative in agriculture: long-term qualification activities for young farmers with an internship on farms (agricultural enterprises) in Bavaria and seminars in Saxony.
Place of Education, Duration
International capacity building centers of InWEnt:
Leipzig - Zschortau (Free State of Saxony) and Starnberger See in Feldafing (Free State of Bavaria).
Expert discussion: 3 days, seminars: 10 days, long-term activities: 6 months
Partners
The most important partners in the federal states are the appropriate ministries and their subordinate agencies as well as leading associations, interest groups and private enterprises.
There is a close cooperation on the national level and on the level of the federal states. Of particular importance are agricultural ministries and agricultural institutions of the federal states Saxony and Bavaria as well as the federal institute for meat production in Kulmbach. It is provided for a gradual arrangement and expansion of the cooperation with the GTZ and different projects on the EU level. Synergetic effects will be achieved through perspective narrow cooperation with private economy in the partner countries and in Germany (Public Private Partnership).
Financing
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) supports InWEnt in the promotion of the EU market integration in the food economy of South Eastern Europe during the time from 2005 to 2007 with ca. 1 million Euro. In 2005 additional 25.000 Euro will be provided for the realization of long-term measures through Project Apuseni of GTZ.
Contact
Dr. Bruno Schuler, Senior Project Manager
InWEnt - Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH
Capacity Building International, Germany
Rural Development, Food and Consumer Protection Division
Wielinger Straße 52
82340 Feldafing, Germany
Fon: +49 (0) 81 57 - 938 - 301
Fax: +49 (0) 81 57 - 938 – 777
E-Mail: bruno.schuler@inwent.org
