The project "Bio.Re.Goal - To enhance the institutional and regulatory framework for organic food production in Albania" will come to an end on 3 February, with an international conference in Tirana that will bring together all the Balkan countries.

The project, co-financed by CEI - Central European Initiative within KEP - Know-How Exchange Programme, with funding made available at the EBRD-European Bank for Reconstruction and Development entirely financed by the Italian Government, coordinated by CIHEAM Bari and supported by MASAF - the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, has seen experts from the two Italian institutions working together with officials from the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to finalise a new legislation on organic farming in line with the new sector regulation (EU) 2018/848. An activity that, also in perspective of Albania's accession to the European Union, will facilitate relations between this country and EU countries, as well as the trade in the sector.

The conference in Tirana "Perspectives and challenges connected to the implementation of the new EU regulation" is organised by CIHEAM Bari in cooperation with MARD, MOAN - Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network, and IFOAM Organics Europe. It will be attended, among others, by the Albanian Minister of Agriculture Frida Krifca. It will take stock of the situation and future prospects of organic farming, thanks to the new law, not only in Albania, but will also focus on organic farming in the entire Western Balkan area, informing on the initiatives underway throughout the region thanks as well to the presence of the SWG - Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South-East Europe and experts from the various countries.

Imports from third countries and group certification, a novelty for the European Union, will also be discussed, ending with a round table on the possible harmonisation of the legislation of the different Balkan countries with the new European regulation, so as to have in the future, in the East as in the West, not only a more harmonised market, facilitated and fairer, but also an increasingly sustainable agriculture, friend of biodiversity, more adapted to face the global challenge of climate change, more attentive to the demands of consumers who increasingly request food produced in respect of the environment, for their well-being and the well-being of the planet .

The conference program can be downloaded HERE

Source: SINAB