On the occasion of the Earth Day, the EU Corner in the Municipality of Përmet in cooperation with the "Municipalities for Europe" project organized the ExpoForum "Promotion and quality of local products". This forum brought together farmers, local businesses, local authorities, central authorities and other stakeholders to discuss the challenges that local producers need to take into account in order to access the European market.
This activity was welcomed by the Mayor of Permet; Mr. Fusco- Program Manager for Good Governance of the EU Delegation to Albania; Mr. Tolios-Greek Consul in Gjirokastra and Mr. Murati- Director of the Agency for Local Self-Government.
In his address to participants, the representative of the European Delegation, Mr. Orlando Fusko, recalled that agriculture, food security, rural development are crucial aspects for the European Union. With 52% of EU territory classified as mainly rural, more than 170 million hectares of agricultural land and 113 million people (almost a quarter of the EU population) living in rural areas, the Common Agricultural Policy represents one of the largest share of spending of the EU budget. He informed that the IPARD Program will soon begin to provide substantial support to Albanian agriculture. “The IPARD financing of 71 million euro budget is provided to Albanian farmers and agribusinesses, to improve their agricultural holdings, to diversify their agricultural activities." He took the opportunity to encourage businesses and farmwrs to apply for grants to this program.
The forum discussed about quality standards that local products, especially agricultural ones and tourism services, must be complemented to bring them closer to those of the European Union. Representatives of the National Food Authority, Director of IPARD funds at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, representatives of the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development, ProPrem and Cesvi presented their opinions on what is being done by local producers of Përmet to improve quality and the challenges facing on the provision of agricultural services or products.
The activity was accompanied by the planting of some roses on the occasion of Earth Day, a visit to the local products fair and the plastic recycling corner.
