The Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy of the Republic of Macedonia, Perica Ivanoski, will visit the Netherlands on 15 and 16 October to attend the HortiFair 2009, the world-famous horticulture and floriculture fair. Deputy Minister Ivanovski will be accompanied by H.E Simone Filippini, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Macedonia as well as by H.E. Nikola Dimitrov, the newly accredited Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the Netherlands.

During his visit Deputy Minister Ivanoski will also have meetings with the Dutch business community including the Dutch Greenery ( www.thegreenery.com), FloraHolland ( www.floraholland.com) and a number of seed production companies such as Bejo Zaden ( www.bejo.com) and Enza Zaden ( www.enzazaden.com) in order to explore possibilities for cooperation with Macedonia. The Netherlands is internationally renowned for the practical approaches and applications in the seed industry. Cooperation between public and private sectors has resulted in innovative developments in breeding and variety development, seed production, storage, seed certification and marketing. The cooperation with the Dutch seed sector would provide new insights and will enable transfer of knowledge for development of sustainable seed production in Macedonia.

The Deputy Minister will also meet with the management of Dutch Government Service for Land and Water Management - DLG ( www.minlnv.nl). DLG assists the Macedonian Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy in its efforts to improve rural land management. As part of the assistance provided by DLG, three pilots are currently implemented in order to investigate, analyse and evaluate the current issues on rural land development. Furthermore, the project supports building of the Ministry’s capacity for setting of proper land management policies and supports rising of the public awareness about the importance of the rural land management.

The visit of Deputy Minister Ivanoski has been arranged by the Netherlands Embassy in Skopje in conjunction with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia and the Embassy of the Republic of Macedonia in The Hague.

The Netherlands Embassy in Skopje is actively and consistently promoting trade and investment cooperation between Macedonia and the Netherlands. One of the priority areas is agriculture, in particular flori- and horticulture. The Dutch horticultural sector is a global player in the cultivation of ornamental plants, bulbs, trees and shrubs, food horticulture and the related supply industry. The industry employs over 460,000 people and has an export value of 14 billion euros. 

Download the press release (in English and Macedonian)  here.