Production of bigger quantities of safer and more quality food – Belgrade to host the annual meeting of the Agroistok network June 18-19

(Photo: Ivana Vuksa)

Leading agricultural producers and experts will meet at the annual Agroistok network meeting to discuss the options of increasing the level of quality and quantity of food products in Europe and Central Asia.

The annual Agroistok meeting (EastAgri) will gather more than 150 high officials of private sector, governments, international financial institutions and developmental agencies so that they could discuss how to support production of “the best food” in Europe and Central Asia.

The meeting will be held June 18-19 in Belgrade, organized by FAO –Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – financially supported by the World Bank – this two-day meeting will start with plenary session with high officials and will focus on quality development in food chains in this region.

During the second day, the leading agricultural experts will have detailed discussions on promotion of food quality for export. They will also consider ways of funding and modernization of SMEs in the agro business sector, “green growth” in agricultural and food chains as well as policies and partnerships for investments. You can check the entire program here.

Since consumers’ expectations when it comes to food change and international standards increase, food producers should satisfy domestic demand as well as export markets standards. Producers now primarily ask for healthy, more nutritive food, produced in a more sustainable way.

When it comes to global, food markets, food safety and quality are more observed from the international perspective. This is obvious for agricultural and food companies from East Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus region which head for the placement of the locally produced food at the markets with higher value such as EU. Investing in food chain value development could be the main path for numerous SMEs in agro business sector as well as the main profit for consumers in the region.

Being aware of the need to invest in bigger quantities of safer and more quality food production, the EastAgri network focuses on coordinating interventions within agro business sector. Along with that, it maintains synergy between public and private sector. In this context, the annual meeting will define specific objective s and future steps to be taken towards development of agriculture and food systems in the region.

While EastAgri will keep its regional focus on Europe and Central Asia, a special accent will be on West Balkans. Recent floods have left serious traces on agro business in these countries and the international community promised fast support so that damage would be compensated and future risks decreased.

Expanding the number of members in the EastAgri network, expansion of cooperation when it comes to the most important field and aiming at “the best food” for investing are some of the expected outcomes of the meeting. Apart from that, Framework agreement EBRD-FAO will be extended so that tight partnership of these two institutions would continue.