The Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary for Parliamentary, Social and International Relations Katalin Tóth attended an event organised by the Farmers' Circle of the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Croatian town of Karanac (Karancs) to mark the first anniversary of the founding organisation, at which she stressed the importance of transferring knowledge and experience relating to the European Union to Hungarian communities living in neighbouring countries.

At the meeting of the Farmers' Circle, Ms. Tóth reminded those present that the organisation had been established as a result of the aspirations, which are also supported by the Ministry of Rural Development, according to which rural Hungarians living in every country of the Carpathian Basin should have an institutionalised system of representation and advocacy. It is these organisations that form the basis and organisational background for cooperation on rural development with cross-border Hungarians. The system of organisations that form the network represent a guarantee for the unified transformation and transferral of Hungarian interests into concrete measures, in which the role of coordinator must by undertaken by the new National Chamber of Agricultural Economics.

In addition to greeting the Farmers' Circle, the Deputy State Secretary also hel a lecture on opportunities for cooperation on rural development within the Carpathian Basin and on the recent experiences. She stressed the importance of the fact that Croatia, as a new member of the European Union, and within it the Hungarian people of the Drávaszög region, as a significant minority, can rely on the knowledge that Hungary is capable of and willing to provide. It of course does so while focusing on comprehensive national policy goals, because rural development plays, and will continue to play, a key role in helping Hungarians lead a successful life in the land of their birth.

According to Katalin Tóth, this is precisely why the Ministry of Rural Development is continuing to do everything possible to ensure that cross-border Hungarian farmers receive information in Hungarian, whether through funding professional conferences and training courses, promoting the organisation of field trips or supplying partner organisations with specialised magazines and textbooks. In addition, trademarking and increasing consumer awareness of characteristic products is also important, a fine example of which was the success achieved by the cross-border Hungarian stand at last year's Hungarian Agriculture and Food Industry Exhibition (OMÉK), the Deputy State Secretary said in closing.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)