Olexii Pavlenko met with WB Vice President
Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Olexii
Pavlenko met with Vice President of the World Bank Hafez Ghanem. The meeting was held within the framework of
a Private Sector Forum on food security in the Southern and Eastern
Mediterranean region, which took place through May 5-6 in Barcelona (Spain).
The parties agreed
that agriculture plays a significant role in ensuring social stability in the
Mediterranean region. Minister Oleksii Pavlenko stressed the importance to expand cooperation of
the domestic agricultural sector with the World Bank, in particular, on the
implementation of joint investment projects. An important aspect in this regard
is the involvement of technical assistance in reforming of the Ukrainian
agriculture.
During the bilateral
meeting the sides agreed to prolong cooperation and coordinate efforts along
the following directions:
- support small and
family farms;
- promote the
effective functioning of farmer organizations;
- introduction
of research and innovation in agriculture.
It
should be noted that the Private Sector Forum on food security in the Southern
and Eastern Mediterranean region became an event in which representatives of business,
governments, international financial and public organizations
discussed problems of food supplies to the countries of the Mediterranean basin
and the role of such supplies in ensuring global food security.