Serbia, Hungary to set up expert groups on agriculture

BUDAPEST, Jan 20 (Tanjug) - Officials of the Serbian and Hungarian ministries of agriculture have agreed to set up expert working groups to work on boosting agricultural production, soil protection and food safety, as well as on ways to maximise the use of EU funds, Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic said on Tuesday.

The expert groups will be joint groups, and Serbian and Hungarian experts will be working on defining and finding the best solutions for certain legislative proposals, the minister told Tanjug during a working visit to Hungary at the invitation of her Hungarian colleague.

In particular, the groups will address proposals concerning the most sensitive issues in the field of agriculture, and expert groups will also be formed to help us prepare as well and as soon as possible for using money from EU funds, in which Hungary is among the best in Europe, the minister said.

"We will already be able to assess the first results of the working groups' efforts during the Hungarian minister's visit to Belgrade, which has been agreed to take place in the spring," the agriculture minister said in a statement by phone.

Bogosavljevic Boskovic said that she is very satisfied with the results of her meeting with Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Sandor Fazekas and his ministry's officials.

Hungary is very interested in forming joint companies in Serbia and introducing fresh capital to increase production and boost Serbian exports to foreign markets significantly, she said.

With her Hungarian colleague, she also discussed Hungary's experiences in the European integration process, in particular with regards to using European agriculture...