On January 29, Rural Support Service of Latvia (RSS) met with representatives from Ukraine to talk about the experience when Latvia joined EU and implementation of SAPARD projects. For Ukraine, this opportunity to learn about Latvia's experience is very important in order to prepare for the introduction of IPARD in Ukraine. Huge interest was about requirements of IPARD implementation, function distribution, EU requirements compliance etc.
The delegation was represented by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the National Association of Agricultural Advisory Services of Ukraine and the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine.
During the visit, guest from Ukraine also met with representatives from the University of Biosciences and Technologies in Latvia, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Institute of Agricultural Resources and Economics, as well as with specialists from Latvian Rural Consultation and Education Center.
The main purpose of this meeting is to get acquainted with Latvia's experience in harmonizing legal acts and implementing programmes in the rural development sector before joining EU.
This visit was planned within framework of the project "Action plan for harmonization of legislation in the field of rural development of Ukraine, promoting the use of support instruments to increase the competitiveness and export capacity of Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises before joining EU" (IPARD).
RSS is pleased with the outcome of this meeting and supports active future cooperation.