TIRANA, July 25/ATA/ Albania and Italy are set to strengthen cooperation in the field of agriculture and rural development.
Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Frida Krifca held a meeting with Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry of the Republic of Italy. They discussed on strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in the field of agriculture, the expansion of commercial exchanges, where Italy has given great support for the increase in the export of olive oil, but also on the Objectives of Sustainable Development and the progress of Albania, especially in the sector of agro-processing and rural development.
The meeting between the two ministers took place on the sidelines of the UN Summit on Food Systems that took place at the FAO headquarters in Rome, where Minister Krifca, also president of the Institute for Advanced Agronomic Studies of the Mediterranean (CIHEAM) participates, at the invitation of her Italian counterpart Lollobrigida.
During this meeting, Minister Krifca made a presentation of the situation in the agricultural sector, as well as the policy reforms undertaken by the government to deal with successive crises, to support farmers and the rural sector, while an important place was taken by the expansion of the export of olive oil, the direct connection of collection points with Italian hypermarkets for fruits and vegetables made in Albania.
Italian Minister Lollobrigida shared the view to more cooperation saying that Italy needs markets to buy olives and processed oil, and Albanian production meets the demands of Italian companies.
Krifca emphasized that Albanian agriculture has entered the path of diversification and agro-tourism, agro-processing and typical agricultural products with high potential for development and competitiveness are some of the priority sectors, where the attention and policies of the Albanian government have been focused the most. /p.s./
