State Secretary for Rural Development Zsolt V. Németh and Magdaléna Lacko-Bartošová, Slovakian State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, discussed the two countries' experiences with regard to local processing and distribution at a meeting held at the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development with the aim of making preparations for the upcoming session of the Hungarian-Slovak Joint Committee on Agriculture.

Both Hungary and Slovakia are closely following developments with regard to the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). With relation to this, Zsolt V. Németh told reporters that the Hungarian Government has begun planning for the next budgetary period and has already made decisions with regard to several important issues, such as the introduction of multi-fund planning and the expansion of the LEADER method to include smaller towns and cities. The State Secretary added that no decision has yet been reached on the institutional system required to facilitate the implementation of the next rural development programme, and the experiences of neighbouring countries may provide useful help. Hungary would like to establish an institutional system that assures the full use of resources in a customer-friendly way.

An important topic of the meeting was the increase of local processing and distribution. Magdaléna Lacko-Bartošová told the press that a proposal for new legislation on the regulation of fair trade conditions had recently been put before Slovakian Parliament. In Slovakia, a mere 3% of trade turnover comes from local products, and the government is aiming to increase this figure.

Zsolt V. Németh emphasised that direct distribution is a huge opportunity for small-scale producers, and can also help to preserve the character of villages. He also told the press that the Hungarian ministry responsible for agriculture has helped the development of local markets with several pieces of new legislation recently. Thanks to the favourable regulatory environment demand for locally processed products and farmers' markets has increased, and it is obvious that farmers would prefer to market their products locally. The Ministry of Rural Development is also encouraging these processes by organising a market under the arcades of its own headquarters every Friday. He added, farmers need to organise their own distribution chains and must do their best to get their products onto the market shelves of large supermarkets. The parties agreed that there is significant resistance to cooperatives in both countries, but that this must be tackled, because the long-term survival and development of small-scale producers depends on their collaboration. They also agreed to review the opportunities and conditions for the cross-border distribution of foods produced by small-scale producers.

(Press Office of the Ministry of Rural Development)