|
Macedonian Agribusinesses Sell Products Worth EU500,000 to CEFTA Customers
AgBiz is helping Macedonian agribusinesses
to strengthen business relations
with potential partners from
South Eastern Europe and increase
regional trade in agricultural and
food products.
"…This really is a brilliant way to meet
potential regional customers and market
our products…"
- Macedonian Exporter
at B2B Meetings
 Macedonia's business integration into Europe depends on the ability of local
companies to meet EU product standards and to strengthen their competiveness,
as well as on the ability of the Government of Macedonia (GoM) to
create an environment that supports a fully functional market economy similar
to that of Europe.
Macedonia has signed five trade agreements that provide significant opportunities
to expand overall exports, including products from the wine, fresh
vegetables and processed vegetables value chains supported by USAID's
AgBiz Program. To expand exports, Macedonian agribusinesses must exploit
opportunities created by these recent trade agreements. An important step in
that direction is improved business practices, with added emphasis on strategic
planning and market penetration at both the private sector and government
levels.
 To assist AgBiz customers to utilize the benefits of existing trade agreements,
AgBiz, in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Regional Rural Development
Standing Working Group and the Macedonian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Water Economy (MAFWE), organized the "Implementation of Central
European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)–Free Movement and Barriers on
Trade of Agricultural Goods" conference, that was followed by business-tobusiness
(B2B) meetings. The conference was part of the 60th International
Trade Fair for Consumer Goods–Agrofood 2010, and provided an overview of
the positive achievements of CEFTA, as well as regional trade challenges and
obstacles.
"The CEFTA market is only open for those agriculture-based products that
can comply with EU quality requirements," said MAFWE Minister Dimovski.
The conference brought together many key players from the region such as
the Slovenian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food; the Macedonian
MAFWE Minister; representatives from the governments of Bulgaria, Turkey,
Serbia and Croatia; delegates from regional Chambers of Commerce; and
over 50 agribusiness' representatives from Macedonia.
After the conference, AgBiz organized B2B meetings between Macedonian
exporters and importers from South Eastern Europe (SEE) countries. Eighteen
Macedonian agribusinesses had an opportunity to establish new contacts;
reinforce existing relationships; and meet with leading buyers, such as
Mercator and Fructal, from the CEFTA countries.
The B2B meetings resulted in Macedonian companies signing 550,000 Euro
worth of orders for exporting fresh fruit and vegetables, making this event an
outstanding success.
To capitalize the presence of the leading regional buyers and their interest for
fresh produce and postharvest handling practices in Macedonia, AgBiz also
organized meetings with local authorities in the Valandovo and Rosoman municipalities,
as they are the regions with the largest production of fruits and vegetables.
|
