OREANDA-NEWS. April 1, 2016. “Ukraine sees great prospects for bilateral cooperation with the Netherlands in the field of rural development and support of business in rural areas. 

“We are also going to boost trade cooperation and increase the volume of bilateral trade between the two countries”, Oleksii Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, stressed during a meeting with Martijn van Dam, the State Secretary for Economic Affairs/Minister of Agriculture, which was held in the framework of Business Forum Ukraine-Netherlands.

Speaking about the bilateral trade in agricultural products, Oleksii Pavlenko emphasized that the turnover between Ukraine and the Netherlands amounted to \\$680 million in 2015, with the exports reaching \\$580 million and imports – \\$100 million.

The major export items in 2015 were grains (\\$315.4 million), oil (\\$135 million), oilseeds (\\$45 million), food industry residues and wastes (\\$ 34million), meat and by-products (\\$38.8 million). Concurrently the major import items were cocoa beans, chocolate (\\$24.7 million), living plants and bulbs (\\$ 8.3million), juices (\\$ 5.9million), products from grains and cereals (\\$5.1 million), gelatine, peptones, dextrins (\\$4.3 million).

The Ukrainian Minister noted that there were such promising areas for cooperation as:

-     training and expert support in the creation of the legal framework for public-private partnerships in the agricultural sector;

-     the support of farmers and the agricultural services providing cooperation in the development and implementation of energy-saving technologies;

-     the assistance to small farmers and their cooperative associations in the implementation of environmental technologies.

“Currently, there are several joint projects which were initiated between Ukraine and the Netherlands. The projects are aimed at the development of various spheres of agriculture. For instance, on March, 23rd, the presentation of the program “BELIEVE” took place. This program promotes the development of local communities’ capacity and participation in the implementation and monitoring of the reform process in agriculture, land resources management and rural development,” Oleksii Pavlenko said.