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World Bank's Capannelli: Progress in agriculture could contribute to Romania's economic growth
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) and the World Bank organize a conference in Bucharest on Wednesday, to present their medium and long-term perspective on Romania's rural sector, as the country is among Europe's best gifted with arable land, water and human resources.
The participants will discuss the present challenges faced by Romania's agriculture and rural development to maximize the use of this potential in the context of the current European and global trends.
Romania aspires to developing and implementing modern policies and rural administration to serve each person, every day, in every region of the country. Progress in agriculture could generally contribute to Romania's economic growth, to a more sustainable trade balance, for the benefit of all Romanians, World Bank Country Manager Elisabetta Capannelli was quoted on Tuesday in a release of the MADR.
Agriculture Minister Daniel Constantin and experts with the ministry will present the medium and long-term investment and reform priorities. Two former European Commissioners for Agriculture, Dacian Ciolos and Franz Fischler, are among the speakers at the conference.
"Joining the European Union brought many benefits to Romania's agriculture and rural areas. Major progress has been noted lately as regards the agricultural production and the historical transformation of the trade balance into a positive one. Sectoral progress has been significantly supported by greater financing opportunities. Increasingly larger private investments in the agri-food sector have leveraged the effects of public financing, both national and European. The agricultural administration has managed over 14 billion euros between 2007 and 2013, and will manage 21.5 billion euros more over 2014-2020," Constantin mentioned before the event.
The conference topics include the economic, social and climatic sustainability of the Romanian agriculture and rural development; the knowledge and information systems to promote the country's agriculture to the front line; the plan of necessary reforms provided by the World Bank to the Ministry of Agriculture, allowing Romania to fully use the financial, economic and commercial benefits of joining the EU; the major step of adopting a sectoral vision and strategy, to establish a consistent, comprehensive and stable framework of public policies; the continued and sustained effort necessary to implement this vision on medium and long-term, starting with a thorough institutional reform, which should include the modernization and digitization of systems and procedures and the consolidation of human capacities to face the current and future needs and to efficiently manage the risks to which farmers are exposed.
World Bank experts will address these matters following the reimbursable assistance provided to MADR over 2012-2014 for the consolidation of the strategic and operational management.