The Minister of Rural Development of Greece, George Georgantas, responded positively to the request of the Republic of Cyprus for the concession of the software used in Greece to monitor the purchase of plant protection substances. This was announced by the two Ministers, Kostas Kadis and Georgios Georgantas, after their joint meeting on Thursday in Cyprus.
In statements after their meeting, the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Kostas Kadis, stated that the two Ministries have close cooperation on matters of mutual interest. “We have a close cooperation at the level of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture of the EU, where policies are formulated and we promote the interests of our countries through close cooperation”.
“But today we are given the opportunity to see bilateral relations more in a large field”, he said, adding that there is multidimensional cooperation between departments of the Ministry and Departments of the Greek government. “We want to put this cooperation in a more institutionalized framework, which is why it was decided to formulate an action program in points and fields of mutual interest,” he said.
“At the same time, I must note with great satisfaction the fact that my friend Mr. Georgantas has responded positively to a request of the Republic of Cyprus, which was submitted some time ago for the distribution to the KD of the special software it has at its disposal and has configured the government of Greece, for the availability of plant protection substances in the agricultural sector”, he said.
“This is very important, because we believe that through the use of such software we will also be able to control and limit the use of these substances, since as we know the increased use of plant protection substances is one of the problems of the primary sector in Cyprus”, noted Mr. Kadis.
The Minister added that the cooperation of the two countries in the primary sector will be strengthened on the basis of today's visit and informed that a special program will follow through which “we will visit rural areas, we will see the agricultural activity on the spot with our friend the Minister of Rural Development of Greece and I am sure that through the exchange of views the cooperation of the two countries will be strengthened”.
In turn, the Greek Minister said that he accepted with great joy the invitation from Mr. Kadis and noted that Mr. Kadis “at the Councils of Ministers in Brussels and in any other cooperation that was required, he showed great knowledge of the issues but also great willingness to work together for the good of the primary sector in both countries.” He noted that the friendship and cooperation of the executives of the two Ministries has been institutionalized since 1991.
“Today, what we decide with my colleague the Minister is to update this cooperation, based on the new data and the new fields that have been created so that we can together cope with the new challenges of the time and cooperate on a level and research and exchange of information and tools that will help us strengthen the primary sector in the two countries,” he said.
He added that in the context of this decision for even closer cooperation in specific fields, and in the fields of PDO products and geographical indication products, “I am here and I am happy to answer, as I answered, positively, to my colleague, about the use of the software for the purchase of plant protection products used by the Ministry of Rural Development in Greece, so that we can monitor the retail sales points of these products and follow the target that exists until 2030 to reduce these products by 50%”.
He said that this is only a small sample of the very good cooperation that exists.
“I am sure that in the future and in the analytical issues that we will raise we will certainly be able to find optimal solutions on issues that concern both countries and of course to have common views, common positions and common actions in the Councils of Ministers, precisely because, beyond all other After all, the way the primary sector operates in the two countries has a lot in common,” he said, concluding that “we need to support our farmers and breeders in this difficult time, and of course this is much more effective when there are synergies at all levels”.
