This unique public health association in Europe is being established at the initiative of Croatia's Dr. Andrija Stampar Public Health Institute with the aim of improving the supervision of food products, people's health and the economies in the region.
The network will support food producers and distributors in the standardisation of primary production, transport, sale and supervision of suppliers and goods, Zvonimir Sostar, head of the Andrija Stampar Institute, told reporters on Thursday, adding that this was the first such project in the world and that the network might be established in January.
The network will be financed from membership, to cost up to 4,000 euros per year, and, later on, from the European Union Regional Development Fund. Sostar said a considerable amount could be drawn from the EU because very little of the EUR 280 million intended for regional cooperation had been used this year.
The network comprises Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania. There are indications that Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic could join them.