Ukraine’s Minister
of Agriculture Oleksiy Pavlenko has had a busy week in Spain.
On Tuesday he gave a
presentation to the food security forum in Barcelona on increasing the supply of agricultural
products to Mediterranean countries pointing out that in 2014, 64% of Ukraine’s
agricultural turnover was with EU countries (I need to check that).
He then went on to
meet the Deputy Director General of the FAO, Laurent Thomas and discussed Ukraine’s
role in providing food security to the Mediterranean region.
He also met the Vice
President of the World Bank, Hafez Ganem and they agreed that agriculture plays
a significant role in ensuring social stability in the Mediterranean while Pavlenko
stressed the importance of collaborative joint investment projects with the
World Bank.
Then on Wednesday he
met EBRD Vice President of Policy and Partnership, Philippe Le Uerom and stressed
that the development of a dynamic, competitive and inclusive agricultural
sector is the key to food security in the world and the Mediterranean region in
particular.
It might not seem
like it at the moment, particularly if your knowledge of Ukraine is gleaned
from the news on the telly, but Ukraine is gearing up to be a powerful
agricultural producer and exporter.