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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

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Serbian agricultural market information analysts on study trip in United States

Belgrade, 8 November 2006

The Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management said that a team of twelve market analysts from Serbia will participate in a training programme in the United States at the invitation of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The US Embassy’s Foreign Agricultural Service, an office of the USDA, is sponsoring a study tour for the Serbian market analysts to participate in a training program in the US from November 7 to November 19.

The participants will learn first hand how USDA collects, reports and disseminates market information on agricultural products, and will observe how market institutions function in the US.

Participants include Serbian reporters and analysts that are currently working with the Serbian Market Information System (STIPS) project funded under the US assistance programme in Serbia.

During the study tour, the Serbian participants will spend one day in Washington, DC, to meet with experts from various USDA agencies that deal with agricultural markets in United States. The participants will travel to Tampa, Florida to visit fruit and vegetable market facilities, then to St. Joseph, Missouri to visit the USDA market reporting offices for grains and livestock, observe a livestock auction and other livestock operations, and finally to travel to Minneapolis, Minnesota to visit the Minneapolis Grain Exchange.

This study tour is part of the Embassy’s ongoing technical assistance and trade capacity building activities with the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture to develop the STIPS which helps develop a sustainable system for collecting, analyzing and disseminating high quality agricultural market information.

STIPS provides farmers, policy makers and agribusinesses with the pricing information they need to make rational production and marketing decisions to facilitate Serbia’s transition to a fully functioning market economy.