Under the bilateral cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia (MAFWM), in period from 28th to 30th August 2024, the Third Mission regarding strengthening institutional capacities for establishing Measure 5 within the IPARD III Programme took place. The aim of this mission referred to establishing Network for Rural Development and presentation of its role in implementation of LEADER approach. Beside representatives of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia, IPARD Managing Authority and IPARD Agency, meeting on the second day of this mission was attended by the representatives of potential local action groups, Network for Rural Development of Serbia, Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South East Europe (SWG) and other stakeholders involved in LEADER approach.
During the period from 25th to 27th September 2024, the Fourth Mission was held, with the goal to transfer knowledge and experience related to implementation of LEADER measure. On activities under this mission, beside representatives of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia, was participated by representatives of Local Action Group from Slovenia “Bogastvo podeželja” that presented their experience in implementation of LEADER approach. During this mission, representatives of IPARD Managing Authority, along Slovenian delegation, have visited four potential local action groups (pLAGs), that is: on 25th of September 2024 pLAG “Fruška gora – Dunav” and pLAG “Sremski Karlovci – Kovilj”, while on second day of the mission, on 26th September 2024, a visit was made to pLAG “Rtanj” and pLAG “Katena Mundi”. Representatives of potential local action groups had an opportunity to get to know the implementation of LEADER measure within an EU member state, and to gather knowledge about implementation of this measure during pre-accession period. On third day of the Fourth Mission, on 27th September 2024, in the MAFWM premises, the Final meeting regarding all missions was held. During the meeting, the importance of long-term cooperation between Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia and MAFWM was emphasized. Additionally, representatives of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food of Slovenia presented their recommendations for further steps regarding the establishment of the LEADER measure, which are of great significance for the entrustment of this measure under IPARD III Programme. Beside representatives of Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of the Republic of Serbia and Slovenian delegation, this meeting was attended by the representatives of Embassy of Republic of Slovenia.
Image sources: MAFWM and Kristijan Đorđević