/ EUROPEAN UNION – ALBANIA
6th Sub-committee Meeting
Agriculture and Fisheries 2015 /

Brussels, 6 March 2015

Conclusions:

Trade relations in the agricultural sector

  • The EU delegation took note of the progress of bilateral trade in agricultural products and underlined the need to continue with the approximation of trade statistics, and to identify the reasons of the discrepancies for BAP and PAP figures in the reported statistics.

Agriculture and rural development

  • The EU Delegation welcomed the increase of agricultural and livestock production in 2014.
  • The EU Delegation proposed that in the next year's report Albania should include additional information such as:

(i) Detailed information per type of product (harvested area, yield, number of trees, and number of livestock), (ii) information on agro-food industry (production volume and value per product, number of establishments, investment, number of employees per region), (iii) information, also historical information, on average farm size.

  • In view of the agricultural census, the Albanian Delegation informed that the publication of the census results will be postponed because of obvious discrepancies between the preliminary results of the census conducted by INSTAT and the data available to the MARDWA. The census will not repeated, but the information will be updated. The EU Delegation invited Albania to keep the Commission closely informed about the further development.
  • In view of organics, the EU Delegation invited Albania to include in the next year's report data on production, consumption and export.
  • In view of the preparations for entrustment of budget implementation tasksfor IPARD, the Albanian authorities undertook to strengthen the administrative capacity of the Management Authority and of the Paying Agency. Further strengthening of this operating structure is still required. Strengthening the relevant capacities at the National Authorising Office is still outstanding. In this respect, the EU delegation also emphasized the importance of retaining staff, in particular those that have been trained to implement IPARD.
  • In cooperation with the competent services of DG Agriculture, the Albanian authorities will analyse and agree on all the necessary conditions and accompanying measures for the successful implementation of the IPARD programme, taking into consideration lessons learned from other countries in the region.
  • Additionally, functionality of farm and animal registers and other agricultural information systems should be ensured as soon as possible, not least in order to enable implementation of IPARD.
  • The EU delegation encouraged the Albanian authorities to urgently enhance the administrative and technical capacity of the national technical bodies to assess the investment projects of the potential beneficiaries for compliance with the EU standards.

Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy

Adoption of legislation

•The EU delegation distributed the exhaustive lists of EU legislation published since the last sub-committee

  • The EU delegation took note of the advancement in adopting legislation aiming at harmonisation with EU legislation.
  • The EU delegation drew the attention of the Albanian delegation to verify that the EU legislative acts they plan to transpose are still in force and not repealed.

Raw milk

  • The EU delegation drew the attention to the fact that the results appear to be worse this year in the samples collected in Autumn compared to those collected in Summer. Last year the opposite was observed. There is no obvious explanation to this fact.

Animal health

  • The EU delegation invited the Albanian delegation to provide data not only for the past year but for several consecutive years to analyse the trend over a longer period
  • The EU delegation stressed the importance for the database for the identification and registration of animals and registration of their movements to reflect the actual situation on the farms by improving the registration of slaughtering or selling of animals.

Border controls

  • The EU delegation invited to restrict the use of the acronym BIP to the EU veterinary Border Inspection Posts that are precisely defined in EU legislation. The EU delegation suggested to use instead veterinary/phytosanitary “border control points” to avoid confusion

Fisheries

  • The EU delegation took note of the additional efforts made in 2014 to reinforce administrative capacity in the fishery sector, as well as of some important legislative advances concerning aquaculture.
  • The EU delegation stressed the importance of ensuring the regular collection of reliable data for scientific purposes and invited the Albanian authorities to further communicate how data gathering and assessment is done at the moment.

Annex 1

EU- Albania Subcommittee on Agriculture and Fisheries

Brussels, 06 March 2015

Centre de Conférences Albert Borschette, AB – 4B

Agenda

1. Welcome and opening (09:00)

2. Adoption of the agenda

3. Trade relations in the agricultural sector (09:15)

3.1. Recent developments in bilateral trade of basic agricultural products (exchange of
statistics - expressed in €)

3.2. Trade of processed agricultural products (PAPs)

10:15 Break

4. Agriculture and rural development (10:30)

4.1. Information on the Common Agricultural Policy developments (presentation by the
Commission)

4.2. Developments in the agricultural sector, the agri-food industry and in rural areas during 2014 in Albania

4.3. Administrative capacity of the Ministry and the Paying Agency: developments in 2014

4.4. Rural statistics

• State of play of agricultural census

• Specific surveys undertaken by the Ministry

4.5. Quality policy and legislation

• Protection of Geographic Indications

• Organic farming

4.6. Marketing standards

4.7. Policy formulation and implementation

• Progress in the implementation of the National Inter-Sectoral Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development, 2014 – 2020

  • State of play – Adoption of National Land Consolidation Strategy – Implementation

4.8.. Rural development and legislation

• Implementation of domestic support schemes

  • Information on the implementation of the regionalization of the agricultural production strategy

• Preparations for IPARD: developments in establishing the IPARD Managing Authority and Paying Agency, NAO and NF, progress in implementation of IPA 2011 and IPA 2013 project on piloting IPARD, any other progress. Preparation for application for entrustment of budget implementation tasks, progress in implementation of IPA 2011 and IPA 2013 projects on piloting IPARD, any other progress largely related to the management and control system (including the Technical Bodies).

• Agricultural information systems

• Farm and animal registry systems

• Advisory and extension services for farmers and rural businesses

4.9 EU assistance: overview of the currently running and recently finished IPA projects

12:30 - 14:00 Break

5. Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy (14:00)

5.1 Latest developments in the EU food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary legislation presentation by the Commission)

5.2 Latest developments in Albanian food safety

• Status of play of food processing industry with regard to the compliance with the
hygiene requirements and adoption of HACCP/GMP

• Progress in establishing risk assessment capacity

• Progress in the assessment of microbiological criteria of raw milk

• Developments in food safety legislation

5.3 Latest developments in veterinary

• Administrative/institutional capacity of the veterinary service to keep animal
diseases under control

• State of play as regards identification and registration of animals

• Registration of animal movements and timely updating of animal database

• Developments in veterinary legislation

5.4 State of play regarding phytosanitary sector

• Developments in the control of domestic production

• Developments in the control of imports

• Developments in phytosanitary legislation

5.5 Laboratory capacity at central and regional level

5.6 EU assistance: state of play of projects

16:00 Break

6. Fisheries (16:15)

6.1. Recent developments in bilateral trade of fish and fisheries products (exchange of statistics - expressed in € and tonnes) and discussions on the export quota of fish products

6.2. Information on the Common Fisheries Policy developments (presentation by the Commission)

6.3. Approximation of legislation (conservation, fleet policy, control, market, state aid, etc.)

6.4. Developments in the fishing fleet (fleet segments, number and capacity of the fleet
by type of vessels, fleet policy), processing industry and aquaculture

6.5. Progress in administrative capacity, collection of catch, landing statistics (including
logbook), as well as relevant biological and economic data

6.6. Resource and fleet management (e.g. balance between fishing fleets and fishing
opportunities), including international commitments under GFCM, ICCAT and cooperation through Adriamed.

6.7. Inspection and control measures, including measures taken to combat IUU activities

6.8. EU assistance (state of play of IPA implementation)

7. Any other business (17:15)

8. Conclusion (17:30)

Annex 2

List of participants

Albanian representatives

  1. Mr.Gentian Elezi, Deputy Minister, Ministry of European Integration
  2. Mr. Ilirjan Xhezo, Director of Sectoral Policies, Ministry of European Integration
  3. Mr. Vojo Bregu, Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  4. Ms. Lauresha Grezda, Director of European Integration, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  5. Mr. Flamur Çelaj, General Director of Support Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  6. Ms.Alketa Ikonomi, Director of Support Services, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  7. Ms.Merita Jano, Head of Statistical Unit, INSTAT
  8. Mr. Grigor Gjeci, Director of Programming and Evaluation of Rural Policies, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  9. Mr.Irfan Tarelli, General Director of Water and Land Administration, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  10. Ms. Suela Popa, Director of Rural and Agriculture Development Agency
  11. Mr. Afrim Bakaj, Director, National Food Authority
  12. Mr.Edi Ferro, Director of Veterinary and Food Safety, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  13. Mr. Ardian Xinxo, Director, Institute of Veterinary and Safety Food
  14. Ms.Elma Vathi, Head of European Integration Unit, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water Administration
  15. Ms.Edlira Dilaveri, Director, Selection and Approval of Projects Directorate, Rural and Agriculture Development Agency
  16. Mr. Ymer Elezi, Expert of Coordination and Support of laboratories Unit, National Food Authority
  17. Ms.Pamela Radovani , Coordinator for International Institutions, National Food Authority
  18. Ms. Suela Janina, Head of Mission of Albania to the EU
  19. Ms. Blerta Derhemi, First Secretary, Mission of Albania to the EU

EU representatives

  1. Ms. Heike Gerstbrein, Deputy Head of Unit D4 Albania, DG NEAR
  2. Mr. Michael Aldaya, Programme Manager, unit D4 Albania, DG NEAR
  3. Ms. Raluca Surdeanu, Administrative Assistant, unit D4 Albania, DG NEAR
  4. Ms. Catherine Combette, Deputy Head of Unit A4, DG AGRI
  5. Mr. Ioannis Virvilis, International Relations Officer, DG AGRI
  6. Mr. Vincent Aubin, Policy Officer, DG SANTE
  7. Ms. Blaga Popova, Trade Affairs Manager, DG GROW
  8. Ms. Lucia Antonini, Policy Officer, DG MARE
  9. Mr. Dick Van Dijk, Auditor, DG AGRI
  10. Mr. Nicolas Dross, Policy Officer, DG TRADE
  11. Mr. Ricard Ramon, Policy Officer, DG AGRI
  12. Ms. Olga Anghelakis, Head of Section - Operations, EU Delegation Tirana

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