National food certificates to be acknowledged globally - EU helps development of reference laboratories

Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management Dusan Petrovic and Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia Vincent Degert presented on Wednesday in Novi Sad the twinning project "Capacity Building within the Directorate for National Reference Laboratories", which is financed from the EU funds with €1.5 million, it was announced on the website of the Serbian government.

Petrovic said at a press conference dedicated to the beginning of that project that it represented a new step in that very important industry, as one of the elements for fundamental improvement of the security system of animal and plant health and food safety.

As the Minister highlighted, the Serbian government has two fundamental objectives: one is that all of us become more efficient, from the state to individuals, and the second is to restore order, introduce greater measures of order, security and predictability so that the lives of citizens could become better.

Degert pointed out that future laboratories for testing food quality would mean a lot not only to citizens of Serbia, who would eat better and safer food, but would also create necessary conditions for the export of food products to the EU and other countries around the world.

He said that Serbia had done a lot in that area and had become a significant exporter of agricultural products, and added that Serbia had very good wines, plum brandy, kaymak, sausages and other products which only needed a passage to foreign markets.

The project will last for 24 months, and experts from the Netherlands and Denmark will help Serbia to build up units within the Directorate for National Reference Laboratories by providing advice and recommendations, training our staff and building an information system.

In addition to the aforementioned €1.5 million, the EU will donate to Serbia €5 million for the purchase of equipment for these laboratories.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Ambasada Kraljevine Danske Beograd

Ambasada Kraljevine Holandije Beograd

Novosadski sajam a.d. Novi Sad

network of national reference laboratories

national reference laboratories

Directorate for National Reference Laboratories

Agricultural Fair Novi Sad

Dusan Petrovic

EU Delegation to Serbia

Vincent Degert

Veterinarian Administration