The Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of Human Resources have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at achieving cooperation between Hungarian farmers within the whole Carpathian Basin, which would make the Carpathian Basin an internationally important Hungarian education and economy knowledge centre.

The agreement was signed by Minister of State Rózsa Hoffmans from the Ministry of Human Resources and by the Ministry of Rural Development's Parliamentary State Secretary Gyula Budai at the 2nd Carpathian Basin Solidarity Forum on Thursday in Budapest.

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At the Forum, Rózsa Hoffmann stressed that the goal is the establishment of a strong Carpathian Basin knowledge area and knowledge centre that concentrates on agriculture and help the varied work of people actively involved in agriculture.

Gyula Budai indicated that a series of events would be held in January to increase awareness of the agreement among farmers living outside Hungary.

State Secretary Budai told Hungarian news agency MTI that in future the Forum would be organised on 5 December each year. It will be where the results achieved will be reviewed and where further action will be decided upon. Reports will be presented on experience gained during professional debates and various conferences and events, in addition to which training programs and the result achieved within the field of economic cooperation will also be discussed.

At the Forum, the Ministry of Rural Development's Deputy State Secretary for Parliamentary, Social and International Relations Katalin Tóth spoke about the fact that the number of farmers associations and farmers who would like to take part in cooperation and in joint activities is increasing continuously. Accordingly, the aim is to establish an exemplary network of relations from which farmers can profit, she said.

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The Deputy State Secretary emphasised the fact that the cooperation in question is free of politics, because it is not differences, but mutual interests that further the issues in question. Cooperation within the Carpathian Basin has also had an accelerating effect on joint work performed by Ministry's in Hungary, which is also a significant achievement, she added.

At the Forum, President of the National Association of Farmers' Societies and Cooperatives István Jakab said that " we have all suffered as a result of 5 December 2004", but this disgrace - the referendum result against unifying the nation - was put right by the National Assembly after the 2010 election when it decided to reaffirm the rights of all members of the Hungarian nation.

At the forum, National Agro-Economics Council Chairman Balázs Györffy stressed that Hungarian farmers in the Carpathian Basin must think and act in terms of a unified economic area, because this is the only way in which tangible results may be achieved together.

(MTI)