Opening the event, Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said he is convinced that "after we successfully complete (membership) negotiations and join the European Union, the Croatian farmers will be one of the forces that are the strongest Euro-enthusiasts, just like farmers in Poland, for instance, have been since their country entered the EU."
Sanader went on to say that Croatia would like to be an active participant in globalisation processes.
We can declare ourselves as opponents or advocates of globalisation processes, but we cannot avoid them, the premier said adding that Croatia must develop road infrastructure as a precondition for the entire development.
Such projects in Vukovar-Sirmium County will be the construction of modern roads that have access to the Zagreb-Lipovac highway and the restoration of the reputation of the town of Vinkovci as a regional railway hub.
Addressing the gathered in Lav Hotel, Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic said that Croatia was attaching more and more importance to the promotion of rural areas as well as to consumers and their interests and rights.
He reiterated that the Croatian export had been rising at a faster pace than the import over the past two years, which the minister described as an encouraging indicator.
The minister positively assessed results of programmes aimed at promoting cattle breeding and agricultural production which the Sanader cabinet had conducted since 2004.
Former European Commissioner for Agriculture and Fisheries, Franz Fischler, and the director of the EU programme aimed at development of rural areas called SAPARD, Antonis Constantinou, are expected to address the event.