A CEI Ministerial Conference was held in Budapest on 15-16 April under the Hungarian Presidency to discuss on sustainable agriculture and its impacts in terms of rural development and environment protection.
Twelve Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the 18 Member States attended the Meeting together with High Officials from competent National Ministries of other member countries and from the European Commission and many stakeholders, also representing Agricultural and Farmers’ Organization in Europe and more specifically, in the Danube Macroregion.
The Ministerial Conference was chaired by Hungarian Minister for Rural Development who underlined the commitment of his government in the field of rural development as well as the related expectations in terms of a stronger cross-border and regional cooperation.
The Special Advisor to the CEI Secretary General, Mr. Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, in welcoming the participants on behalf of CEI SG Amb. Giovanni Caracciolo di Vietri, recalled that sustainable agriculture was among the priority areas for the Organisation. In this context, the Central European Initiative has been promoting Advanced Biofuels which are expected to to play a major role in the CEI region in view of their quantitative impact in the development of a Biobased Economy: the next “big thing” for the European farmers and for their perspectives of overall increased income.
During the same session on sustainable agriculture the Italian Secretary of State, Prof. Franco Braga, emphasised the importance of the denomination of origin for agriculture products as an instrument to ensure the highest quality level of production. A second session was dedicated to food security and food safety and a third session addressed the topic of revival of “local” as a key to liveable environment.
The Joint Declaration issued at the end of the meeting, emphasised the sustainability as the prevailing factor for the whole economy, also in view of a proper balance between economic and social aspects in the countryside. In this respect, cooperation in the field of research related to improving production was greatly recommended with the final objective to sharing knowledge and best practices among CEI countries.
The development of alternative technologies based on local energy resources was also emphasised as a mission to be privileged as well as, in this context, the role of advanced bio-fuels for the development of a bio-based economy: the promotion activities of the CEI in this respect were expressively commended.
