Responds given to two agriculture-related questions in EC’s Questionnaire - Amendments and supplements to Law on brandy and Law on genetically modified organisms announced

Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Bozidar Djelic said yesterday in Brussels that Serbia had responded to two questions related to agriculture in the European Commission’s Questionnaire for Serbia’s EU candidacy and announced amendments and supplements to the Law on brandy and Law on genetically modified organisms.

Djelic spoke in Brussels to European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos and informed him on the legislative and institutional progress Serbia has made in the field of agriculture.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who is attending the IPA regional conference themed “Sustainable outcomes and impacts”, said that Serbia expected additional assistance from the EU in the field of agriculture and noted that Serbian farmers could receive funds from the European budget as early as in 2012 or 2013.

- Serbia is now registering exports in the agricultural sector worth more than $2 billion - he said and added that most experts agreed that our potentials ranged between $8 billion and $10 billion a year.

- Agriculture is very little import-dependent so one euro of exports in agriculture produces a much better effect in our foreign trade than one euro of exports in the domain of industry - Djelic explained.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that he had asked Ciolos for an increase in the European Union's quotas for sugar export from Serbia. For the past ten years, the quotas have stood at 180,000 tonnes, while Serbia wants the quotas to be doubled to 360,000 tonnes, he added.

According to him, this is not an easy decision and we will have to deal with the powerful lobby within the EU that protects domestic sugar production which is less efficient than ours.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Bozidar Djelic

European Commission Questionnaire

Brussels

Law on brandy

Law on genetically modified organisms

Dacian Ciolos