Press Release of Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development from May, 26, 2014 with reference to PeacBread project:
Today the Minister Marek Sawicki received the Minister for Food and Agriculture of Germany, Christian Schmidt. The meeting was also attended by the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Poland, Rolf Nikel.
The visit of German Minister in Poland took place during his first 100 days of holding the office. It was primarily aimed at establishing good bilateral cooperation on most important issues concerning the Common Agricultural Policy and the future of European agriculture.
The Ministers discussed most relevant current issues related to the implementation of Common Agricultural Policy in the current financial perspective, the future of the milk market after the departure from the milk quota system and the legislation concerning GMO in European Union.
Minister Sawicki proposed the opening of the debate on the development of European agriculture after 2020 in the face of key challenges concerning the nutritional needs around the world and the necessity to ensure competitiveness of the European Union agriculture on the global market.
Indicating the diversified agricultural structures, different historical backgrounds of the sector in both countries and common European goals, the Ministers expressed their will of further commitment to achieve a better use of the agricultural potential of the central and eastern Europe countries, including Ukraine and Russia.
During the meeting the Ministers declared themselves willing to undertake joint projects for the development of Ukraine, with the participation of Poland, Germany and Ukraine, which implementation could be the subject of arrangements during the Polish-German intergovernmental consultations planned for September 2014.
The Ministers expressed willingness to enhance the cooperation as part of the Weimar Triangle (Poland, Germany, France), initially establishing that the development of agriculture after 2020 would be the main subject of the next meeting in this format, to which Minister Schmidt invited Minister Sawicki to Weimar.
As part of joint activities planned for autumn this year, Minister Schmidt thanked Minister Sawicki for Poland’s commitment in the European initiative entitled “Chleb Pokoju”, repeating the invitation to participate in the ceremonies summarising this project. They will take place in Berlin on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the same time, German Minister emphasized a great significance of the youth exchange from Bavaria and Pomerania as part of the local initiatives of the Lider Programme.
Minister Sawicki once again invited the Minister of Germany to Poland, but this time to participate in the Polagra 2014 trade fair, which will also provide the opportunity to take part in the September Forum Mleczarskie (eng. Dairy products forum).