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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Exporters to receive international certificates of quality

Belgrade, 20 July 2005

Serbian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, and Water Management Ivana Dulic-Markovic and US Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Michael Polt promoted today the programme for improving the quality of food products in Serbia-Montenegro.

Author: Fonet

Today’s promotion was organised as part of the preparations for receiving international certificates for products to be exported from Serbia. The project, which is the result of the US government’s efforts to stimulate Serbian export, will comprise of professional assistance from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for increasing the number of manufacturers from Serbia that will receive a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) Certificate and the ISO 9001/14001 Certification.

In August, USAID will organise educational seminars in 13 regional chambers of commerce and agencies for developing small and medium-sized enterprises in Serbia. As part of this programme, representatives from 100 enterprises will attend training starting on September 1.

The project’s value, which the Ministry of Agriculture is financing, totals 180 million dinars, while USAID will support additional project activities with $300,000.

US Ambassador to Serbia-Montenegro Michael Polt stated at the press conference, held today at the Media Centre, that the US government intends to help as much as it can with this project in order to increase the number of products receiving clearance for export and so that the excellent food products of Serbia can return to the world market. The two types of clearance include standards for food safety (HAACP Certificate) and for quality (ISO 9001/14000 Certificate).

He recalled that only a small number of enterprises from Serbia have international certificates for export. He explained that the USAID Certificate HACCP is a preventive system that ensures the control of food safety in each step of the production process, and its possession increases the scale of international trade.

Polt stated that the cooperation between the ministries of agriculture of the USA and Serbia will also continue in the field of harmonisation of Serbian standards with international ones.

Dulic-Markovic expressed gratitude to the US Ambassador for the financial assistance of his country and recalled that the export of food products from Serbia last year reached $882 million.

According to her, in the first six months of this year, there has been a surplus in the export of food worth $150 million, while the value of export was more than $550 million.

Dulic-Markovic recalled that Serbia-Montenegro has preferential exports in the EU, USA and Russia, as well as agreements on free trade with surrounding countries, and said that we should make the best of these concessions.

She pointed out that the two ministries of agriculture are achieving great co-operation, and added that the US government is assisting Serbian agriculture through a large number of projects.