Brussels, 28/11/2008 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of the CIHEAM (International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies), a group of agricultural experts met in Tunis on 25-26 November to examine how best agricultural cooperation between the two sides of the Mediterranean can be taken forward. The aim is to put in place a framework for cooperation and the transfer of knowledge and expertise. The meeting, which was attended by the European Commission, discussed sustainable development in rural areas of the Mediterranean regions, promoting quality products and geographical indications, food safety (health and plant health standards) and coordination of agricultural research. Proposals and projects from the meeting will be put to Mediterranean agriculture ministers due to meet in Turkey before the end of next year. It was Mediterranean agriculture ministers who decided at their meeting in Saragossa (Spain) in February to set up this expert group, with the support of the CIHEAM.
The Centre highlights the importance of agriculture to the region. Agriculture is, it says, at the crossroads of culture, economy and politics. Mediterranean agriculture lies at the very heart of regional identity. The future of the people of the Mediterranean depends to a large extent on the development and management of agriculture. It says, too, that several agricultural and rural dynamics are currently at work, among these the growing vulnerability of trade, widening inequality in development and an urgent need for care for the environment. Food safety, it says, remains for the people of the Mediterranean a daily struggle where, to quantity, now has to be added the key concern of the quality of the products consumed. Account also has to be taken of sensitive factors such as demographic growth, water issues and climate change. Mediterranean agriculture operates, indeed, amid difficult challenges.
The CIHEAM calls for increased cooperation because there are numerous possible future outcomes for the Mediterranean area, but firstly, it opines, there has to be less pessimism and conditions have to be defined to improve the quality and worldwide marketing of Mediterranean agricultural produce. It lays great stress on the importance of training, innovative research on sensitive issues, information sharing and exchanges both in Europe and with Southern Mediterranean countries. (F.B./transl.rt)