Serbian President Boris Tadic opened Saturday the 78th International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad, stating that agriculture is one of the branches of economy that will in future be the basis of Serbia's economic development, which will be aided by the expected food price rise in the world market.

“I believe in Serbia's strong commitment to the development of potentials of the agricultural and agrarian industry since these sectors can also contribute to the increase in employment rate,” Tadic said, stressing that the agricultural investments are increasingly lucrative.

However, Serbia cannot finance the development of agriculture solely by the budget funds allocated for the agrarian needs and therefore, as Tadic puts it, the country needs to cooperate with business banks, foreign donors and financial institutions.

Tadic warned that even though the food price rise opens possibilities for the Serbian agriculture, it also poses a challenge to the preservation of the citizens' standard.

President Tadic welcomed a large number of agriculture ministers who came to the fair with the spotlight going to Portugal, which has been chosen for the fair's partner country this year.

Portuguese Agriculture Minster Antonio Serano said that apart from institutionalization of the two countries' cooperation via a number of agreements, Serbia and Portugal still have a lot to find out about each other and promote their relations.

Minister Serano also stated that Serbia's EU integration process has full support of the Lisbon government.

The Portuguese government believes that the EU gets richer by enlargement, so you can count on Portugal's support, experience and knowledge in the EU integration process, Serano noted.

This year, the Novi Sad fair has gathered 1,500 exhibitors from about 60 countries across the world, and its opening was attended by agriculture ministers of 18 countries.