The 11th Agricultural Policy Forum entitled: Policy Challenges in Agriculture and Rural Development in South-Eastern Europe – Global, European and Regional Dimensions was held in a period 12-15 October, 2011 in Split, Croatia under the joint auspices of the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development and the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group (SWG).
More than 70 representatives from the Ministries of Agriculture of the SEE countries, European Commission, FAO, GIZ, CEI, JRC, IPTS, RCC as well as delegations of the EU in Croatia participated at this years Forum which main objective was to address policy challenges in agriculture and rural development in South-Eastern Europe taking into consideration global, European and regional dimensions.
In particularly, the following three major topics were elaborated in details through working group sessions:
- The future of the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Rural Development (IPARD);
- Integrating Food and Nutrition Security into Country Programming and Links to Agriculture Policies in South-Eastern European Countries;
- Area Based Development (ABD) Approach and the Development of Cross border Areas: Opportunities and Challenges in South-Eastern Europe
As the final outcome of the Forum, the participants from nine (9) countries from SEE approved a unique document: Split Agenda 2011 for Agriculture and Rural Development in South-East Europe in which basic direction for the future focused activities of the SWG in cooperation with EC and other relevant international institutions working in the region is given.
