Romania: The Project "Modernizing Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems" Was Launched Today

By

Owaise Saadat

World Bank Romania Country Manager

Romania, Bucharest, September 22, 2005

 

The Modernizing Agricultural  Knowledge Information System project is yet another excellent example of partnership between the World bank and Romanian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Public Finance; the project is very timely as Romania is actively working to meet  EU requirements and obligations as laid down in the acquis communautaire  pertaining to the agricultural sector.

 

The objective of the project is to assist the Romanian Government to improve the competitiveness of farmers and agro-processors in the EU accession Environment. More specifically, MAKIS is helping Romania in meeting its high priority EU requirements in the areas of food safety, agricultural research and extension, such as establishing border inspection points, national reference laboratories and other regional laboratories.

 

The project was designed in response to the Government’s Strategy for the Development of Agriculture, Food Industry and Forestry for the medium and long-term (2001 - 2005 and 2005 - 2010).The project aims to integrate the entire agricultural knowledge and information system by including support for research, extension and education through investments in institutional building, infrastructure and human development.

 

MAKIS is supporting priority key areas so that all the participants in the food chain - the producers, the processors and the market operators - will benefit from access to state of the art technologies and information available in the world regarding sustainable production, quality control and food safety.

 

The project activities are aimed at improving the ability of the research community, extension providers and educators to undertake the technology development and information generation and dissemination required to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of the Romanian agricultural and rural sectors as well as to meet the EU accession challenges.

 

The project implementation will go very smoothly because all the implementing agencies are keen to move forward as fast as possible. There will be no time lag in starting the project activities as the administration arrangements are built on the existing experience of the ongoing project (Agricultural Services Support Project) and make full use of the highly experienced and trained staff.

 

I wish to congratulate all of you for your efforts and hope that this project achieves he overall objective in even a shorter period than 5 years.