ZAGREB FAIR HOSTS AGRICULTURE, FOOD-PROCESSING INDUSTRY FORUM

ZAGREB, March 14 (Hina) - In conditions of globalisation and drawing closer to the EU, Croatia's agriculture and food- processing industry must become partners which will incite each other, as only cooperation and state support can improve Croatia's results in said fields and make it competitive on the international market. #L# This was the conclusion of participants in a forum held on Friday as part of the Enogastronomy and Tourism fairs in Zagreb. In attendance were Croatian Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bozidar Pankretic and some 100 representatives from the food- processing industry, agribusinesses, retail chains, banks, faculties, farmers, and other fields. Croatia does not need to produce everything, only the products whose quality and competitive price may pass on the wider market, said Pankretic. He cited the successful export in 2002 of 65,000 tonnes of sugar and 200,000 tonnes of cereal, especially corn, whose prices and quality were adjusted to the European market. Croatia can also be successful in ecological production, fruit growing, and viticulture, and has good prospects in the export of wine and tourism, said the minister, announcing an upcoming project with the Chamber of Commerce -- "Let's Eat and Drink Croatian". The main carriers of agricultural development are private farms, which account for 80 percent of current resources and in the future will stimulate rural development as a whole, depending on state support, said Pankretic. Anyone wishing to grow an orchard may now get 20-40,000 kuna in non-repayable funds, he added. CEO Darko Marinac said Podravka was internationally-oriented and could buy out the entire raw material (fruit, vegetables, meat) on the domestic market, even at a higher price, because this provided security to both the market and the company. (hina) ha sb