Minister of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management Dusan Petrovic met with Slovene Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Dejan Zidan in Slovenia and discussed cooperation between their countries in agriculture.

The visit of a Serbian delegation to Slovenia, led by Minister Petrovic at the invitation of Minister Zidan, began at the Obrezje border crossing where representatives from phytosanitary and veterinary inspections from Serbia and Slovenia exchanged new information and experience in food safety.

During a meeting in Celje, Petrovic and Zidan contemplated agricultural cooperation between Serbia and Slovenia so far and looked at possibilities to increase the trade volume in terms of food products.

They also discussed ways to improve inter-state cooperation in food production, with a special emphasis on Slovenia’s bilateral-technical assistance to Serbia in agriculture in 2011.

Petrovic and Zidan voiced their belief that it is in Serbia’s greatest interest to be granted candidate status as soon as possible, as well as to set the date for the beginning of accession talks.

Petrovic told a press conference in Celje that the EU is a strategic goal of the Serbian government.

The EU needs Serbia just as Serbia needs the EU, both for the huge potential in food production and for security reasons, because the EU will be more stable and more functional with Serbia as its member, Petrovic observed.

He underlined the importance of Slovene investment in Serbia, but noted that there are possibilities for further improvement of Serbian investment in Slovenia.