Armenia wants to use EU's agricultural experience: Minister
YEREVAN, September 19. /ARKA/. Armenia's agriculture minister Sergo
Karapetian said studying and introduction of best agricultural
practices of the EU will contribute to stepwise solution of problems
in this area in Armenia as he spoke at a two-day seminar organized by
EU's TAIEX program on improving competition in the agricultural sector
of Armenia through the EU experience.
Experts from Finland, Romania and Poland are sharing their experience
in the field of agriculture with Armenian colleagues.
TAEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument) is an
integral feature of the European Union enlargement strategy. Since
1996 TAIEX shares the expertise of EU Member State public officials
with beneficiary countries to `fill the gaps' in their knowledge and
understanding of EU rules and procedures through the exchange of
experience and best practice - thereby fostering networks between
officials in EU Member States and partner countries. TAIEX is
demand-driven and delivers peer-to-peer assistance. Since 2006 it has
been extended to cover the neighbourhood countries.
Minister Karapetian said that cooperation between Armenia and the EU
is one of the cornerstones of Armenia's European integration.
The minister, in particular, highlighted the problems of the efficient
use of land resources, increasing the efficiency of agricultural
branches, sales of products and availability of loans.
The minister blamed higher level of poverty in the rural communities
on low level of competitiveness in agriculture. The minister cited
several official figures which say that the proportion of plant and
animal products in Armenia's foreign trade last year was 18.8% and
17.9% in exports. The minister said that over the last three years,
the share of agriculture in the overall GDP was 17.9 percent. In 2011
the agricultural GDP amounted in terms of money to about 825 billion
drams. -0-
From: Baghdasarian
YEREVAN, September 19. /ARKA/. Armenia's agriculture minister Sergo
Karapetian said studying and introduction of best agricultural
practices of the EU will contribute to stepwise solution of problems
in this area in Armenia as he spoke at a two-day seminar organized by
EU's TAIEX program on improving competition in the agricultural sector
of Armenia through the EU experience.
Experts from Finland, Romania and Poland are sharing their experience
in the field of agriculture with Armenian colleagues.
TAEX (Technical Assistance and Information Exchange Instrument) is an
integral feature of the European Union enlargement strategy. Since
1996 TAIEX shares the expertise of EU Member State public officials
with beneficiary countries to `fill the gaps' in their knowledge and
understanding of EU rules and procedures through the exchange of
experience and best practice - thereby fostering networks between
officials in EU Member States and partner countries. TAIEX is
demand-driven and delivers peer-to-peer assistance. Since 2006 it has
been extended to cover the neighbourhood countries.
Minister Karapetian said that cooperation between Armenia and the EU
is one of the cornerstones of Armenia's European integration.
The minister, in particular, highlighted the problems of the efficient
use of land resources, increasing the efficiency of agricultural
branches, sales of products and availability of loans.
The minister blamed higher level of poverty in the rural communities
on low level of competitiveness in agriculture. The minister cited
several official figures which say that the proportion of plant and
animal products in Armenia's foreign trade last year was 18.8% and
17.9% in exports. The minister said that over the last three years,
the share of agriculture in the overall GDP was 17.9 percent. In 2011
the agricultural GDP amounted in terms of money to about 825 billion
drams. -0-
From: Baghdasarian