Copa & Cogeca welcomed in Brussels today EU Farm Commissioner Hogan initiatives to step up actions to promote EU agri produce and find new markets for it.
The move came after the EU Commission released a statement saying that EU promotion funds will rise to 133 million euros in 2017 . This will contribute to raise awareness in the EU and also in non-EU markets of our high quality and diverse EU products. It also comes after Commissioner Hogans’ mission to Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia in November to promote EU agri produce. Copa and Cogeca representatives play a key role in these missions.
Copa & Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “We see the missions to these countries which have good growth potential as an excellent way to promote our produce and increase awareness of the high standards we meet. It also gives us a better understanding of the markets outside Europe. The programme included political meetings as well as traders and industry. Already, we have seen new demands for our produce from importers as a result of our last missions to Mexico, Columbia, China and Japan and we expect further moves here. EU farmers and agri-cooperatives will continue to be strongly committed to these missions in the future”.
“The new streamlined EU promotion policy for agri-food products came into force in December 2015 to help the EU diversify into new markets, enhance competitiveness, raise awareness of high quality European products. Some projects submitted by our members have been approved for 2016. Learning from the experience of the first call, we will continue to actively promote and participate in the call for proposal for 2017 promotion projects to be launched in January 2017. But to ensure wider approval of our proposals and the different agricultural sectors, we call for support and advice from the EU Commission and the Consumer, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA) on how best to make applications for the projects for the benefits of the EU agricultural sector and the EU economy as a whole”, he added.
