Representatives of the EU Delegation to BiH, BiH Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, entity agricultural ministries and FAO Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe met yesterday at the EU Delegation to BiH for the 2nd Coordination Board meeting of the project Preparation of IPARD sector analyses in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event was opened by Mr Dušan Nešković, Assistant Minister of the Ministry of  Foreign Trade and Economic Relations.

The Coordination Board discussed the progress of the project, which started in January 2011 to ensure that the sector analysis will contain relevant information to allow the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina formulating the IPARD Programme.

The main objective of the project is to prepare independent and objective sector analyses of crucial agriculture sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Meat and Dairy, Fruits and Vegetables, Cereals (wheat and maize) and the Wine sector as well as a special sector analysis on the possibilities for Diversification of economic activities in rural areas. The sector analyses will map the state of the art of the sectors in BiH and provide recommendations for policy interventions contributing to the modernization of the sectors, increasing competitiveness and fulfilling the requirements to EU standards. The sector analyses will be used by the beneficiary institutions in their preparation for BiH to become an EU candidate country and to the preparation of IPARD programme.

The project is financed by the European Union to the tune of 500,000 Euro.