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Agriculture : Acting AgriMin Oros: Trade balance deficit with agricultural products is close to one billion euro
Acting Agriculture Minister Adrian Oros has announced on Wednesday that this year, in which work is carried out on the 2021-2027 National Strategic Plan (PNS), the current, "not so positive trend for the Romanian agriculture" will be changed, in the conditions in which we export subsidies and import processed products, and the trade balance deficit with agro-food products is close to one billion euro.
"We are in a more special year from all points of view, but for us, with the Agriculture Ministry, it's important how we negotiate and write the National Strategic Plan (PNS) and how we'll finance and support agriculture and food industry in Romania between 2021 and 2027, because we start form a reality regarding the trade balance deficit, more correctly, regarding the trade balance deficit in terms of agriculture and food industry. In 2018, we exceeded one billion euro, and at the end of November 2019, the deficit was close to one billion euro - more precisely 988 million euro. Now, we have a not so positive trend for the Romanian agriculture, we export raw materials, we import high added value processed materials, basically, we export subsidies and, this year, we are trying to change the trend," Oros told a press conference.
He mentioned that ever since November 2019, when he took over the Ministry's leadership, he started the drafting of the PNS and the debates with the associative environment, a SWOT analysis being already conducted which identified the priority objectives to be included in the 2021-2027 PNS. Oros added that this PNS draft will be forwarded to the EC services, and, by the end of February, the contract for the consulting services with the World Bank will also be signed, in view of substantiating the interventions for Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 of the Common Agricultural Policy.