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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Great potential for development of cooperation of Serbia, Hungary

Belgrade/Budapest, 18 March 2016

Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic-Boskovic stated last night in Budapest that Serbia and Hungary have great potential for development of cooperation not only in the field of agriculture, but in other economic sectors as well.

Bogosavljevic-Boskovic is on a two-day working visit to Hungary, where she is taking part in the 8th session of the Joint commission for economic cooperation between Serbia and Hungary.

The objective of the 8th session is an analysis of current issues related to bilateral economic-trade relations, overview of realisation of the activities agreed at the previous session and the identification of joint activities on the improvement of economic cooperation in the coming period.

Bogosavljevic-Boskovic, who is also co-chairperson of the Serbian part of the commission, said that the forum focused on possibilities for improvement of economic cooperation, which are, first of all, joint investments in the economies of Serbia and Hungary, cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, intensification of cooperation in joint investments in the sectors such as food and pharmaceutical industries, investments in the field of agriculture and projects in the areas of infrastructure, transport and construction. The Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection stated that yesterday's forum was attended by a large number of companies from Serbia and Hungary and that there was great interest.

She pointed out that the cooperation between Hungary and Serbia in the field of economy and trade is increasing year in year out.

Last year the volume of trade of our products was €1.1 billion and this exchange increased by five percent compared to 2014. In 2015, Serbia exported on the Hungarian market goods worth around €321 million, an increase of 11 percent compared to a year earlier, she noted.

Also, Bogosavljevic-Boskovic added that Hungary occupies the seventh place in terms of importance and the volume of trade.

The Serbian Minister spoke yesterday with Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Sandor Fazekas about cooperation to date and prospects for future cooperation.

She said that land policy was also discussed, since Hungary regulated this area very well and for a long time it has been carrying out a policy of sale of state land to farmers.

We were interested in Hungary’s experiences because we recently adopted the Law on agricultural land, the Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection said.

Current problems related to the market of agricultural products were also looked at and a reduced export of dairy products due to sanctions against the Russian Federation.

The participants in the meeting also spoke about the clean-up of consequences of floods and natural disasters that are frequent and which Hungary is also facing, and how to preserve and protect agricultural production.

According to her, the continuation of regional cooperation has been agreed, as well as projects related to improvement of cattle raising, fruit growing and viticulture.

During today's meeting of the commission for economic cooperation, the results of work of experts groups will be summarised, and the signing of a joint protocol is planned.

The Protocol will be signed by Bogosavljevic-Boskovic and Hungarian Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto, reads a statement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection.