Brussels, 13/10/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 12 October, the ambassadors of the EU, France and Italy to Algeria, along with Algeria's minister for agriculture and rural development, Abdelouahab Nouri, and for trade, Amara Benyounes, oversaw the launch of three projects to strengthen the export capacity of Algerian agricultural produce.
Financed by the EU (€6 million), the three projects will enable the institutional and regulatory framework of export operations to be strengthened, and will enable recognition bodies to be set up for the origin of the products.
The initiative is part of the support programme for implementing the association agreement, which was signed in 2005, the EU delegation in Algiers states. The EU's ambassador in Algiers, Marek Skolil, said in his speech that Algeria has an under-exploited agricultural potential.
One of the objectives sought “is to improve the food safety of animal origin food products so as to support their trade on the local market and facilitate their export to the EU and other foreign destinations”, said Nouri, as quoted by Algerian media (our translation). Three pilot products have been selected for this start-up phase - Deglet Nour de Tolga dates, Beni Maouche dried figs, and Sig table olives. (FB)