The 79th International Agriculture Fair was opened Saturday in Novi Sad by Bojan Pajtic, the president of the Vojvodina Executive Council, in the presence of many renowned figures.

The fair will bring together around 1,500 exhibitors from more than 30 countries in seven days. The opening of the event, which is the biggest such exhibition in the region and among five biggest agricultural fairs in Europe, was attended by Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Trade Dusan Petrovic, his counterparts from Austria, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Head of EU Delegation to Serbia Vincent Degert.

Addressing the visitors and exhibitors, Minister Petrovic pointed out that agriculture is of great importance to Serbia and the region. The minister said that Serbia has all to boost its agricultural exports by EUR 500 million every year, and added that in 2011 the country recorded agricultural exports worth USD 2.7 billion.

Petrovic also pointed out that Holland achieves the annual agriculture export of more than EUR 60 billion, and expressed belief that Serbia could achieve the same or even better results with well-organized agriculture. Opening the fair, Bojan Pajtic said that Serbia is an EU candidate and that it wants to become a full-fledged member as soon as possible. He stressed that investments in Serbia are safe and advised the participants of the fair to make the best use of business meetings there.

The exhibitors and guests were also addressed by Austria's Agriculture Minister Nicolaus Berlakovich. Berlakovich pointed out that Austria is very interested in economic and any other cooperation with Serbia, Croatia and other Balkan countries, because, as he put it, this is a precondition for building a common future in Europe.