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 hosted at Rogner Hotel in Tirana that will bring together all the Balkan countries.
The project was co-financed by the CEI - Central European Initiative/KEP - Know-How Exchange Programme fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), made available by the Italian Government, coordinated by CIHEAM Bari and supported by MASAF - the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry. Experts from the two Italian institutions worked jointly with officials from the Albanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) to finalize a new legislation on organic farming in line with the new sector regulation (EU) 2018/848. An activity that will expand relations between this country and the EU countries and improve trade in the sector, especially in view of Albania's accession to the European Union.
The conference in Tirana "Perspectives and challenges connected to the implementation of the new EU regulation" is organized 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. The focus will be on the current state of play and future prospects of organic farming, taking into account the new legislation, and organic farming in Albania and the whole Western Balkan area. The initiatives underway in the region will be presented thanks to the participation of the SWG - Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South-Eastern Europe and of experts from various countries.
Imports from third countries and group certification, a novelty for the European Union, will also be discussed. To conclude, a round table will explore the possible alignment of laws in the different Balkan countries with the new European regulation, aiming to promote a more harmonized and fairer market, in the East and in the West, and to encourage an increasingly sustainable agriculture which is able to protect biodiversity, face the global challenge of climate change, and meet the growing consumer demand for food products that ensure well-being of people and of the planet.
The conference program can be downloaded here.