Opening ceremony for IPA II 2014 Programme, Twinning Project “Strengthening capacities of phytosanitary sector in the field of plant varieties registration, including improvement of variety testing authorities”

On Thursday, 14 December 2017, a formal ceremony marked the official opening of the twinning project “Strengthening capacities of phytosanitary sector in the field of plant varieties registration, including improvement of variety testing authorities”. Mr. Velimir Stanojevic, State Secretary of Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Mr. Richard Masa, Head of Operation III at European Delegation in Serbia, H.E. Giuseppe Manzo, Ambassador of Republic of Italy and Mr. Dusan Carkic, Assistant Minister of Finance, Programme Authorising Officer at the Department for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programmes (CFCU) addressed the participants. Mr. Riccardo Rossi Paccani, Italian Project Leader, Senior Officer at Rural Development Directorate of the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MiPAAF) and Mr Valter Miceli, Italian Resident Twinning Advisor, presented the project objective and the current achieved results.

This project is of great importance for Serbia in the framework of the EU pre accession process as it directly influences the alignment of current legal institutional framework and procedures for registration of agricultural plant varieties with the EU requirements and international standards. The other expected results are the improvement of professional skills of involved beneficiary staff and the establishment of a database for the National Register of Plant Varieties, including the Maintainers of Varieties of old domestic and domesticated varieties of fruit and grape.

The overall project purpose is to support Serbia in developing the legal framework to facilitate the recovery, safeguard, registration and future exploitation of the old autochthonous fruit and grape varieties. An official Maintainer will be identified for each potential economically important local fruit and grapevine variety. The Maintainer will be in charge for the conservation of these varieties, involving also local farmers, aimed at the preservation of local fruit and grapevine genetic resources heritage. The saved genetic resources can be further utilised as the basis for commercialisation by producers and farmers, and in the development of new varieties with appreciated characteristics by research institutions and breeders.

The 18 months’ project, with a budget of € 800.000,00, is 100% financed by IPA II. The project, started on the 1^st of June 2017, will last until the 30th of November 2018.