Wednesday 25 November 2020
Last update on Wednesday, November 25, 2020 At 7:13 PM
Ecomnewmed interviewed Lauresha Grezda, Director of European Integration & Projects Department, for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Consumer Protection, Albania. How important is the MED-Amin network for the Mediterranean countries ?
« Albania is a member of CIHEAM and we received assistance through different projects, but participation in MED-Amin has been of the utmost importance, for several reasons: it has facilitated the sharing of experiences, the dialogue between neighbouring countries. This allows a greater transparency and visibility for all the initiatives taken by our countries. Moreover, the situation caused by the covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated that it was crucial to engage in such a network » explains Lauresha Grezda, Director of European Integration & Projects Department, for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Consumer Protection, Albania.
What is Med-Amin ?
In September 2012, during the CIHEAM ministerial meeting that was held in Malta, the Ministers for Agriculture, in their final declaration, recommended that CIHEAM countries should “contribute, in close collaboration with G20 follow-up group, to the development of an information system on Mediterranean markets linked to AMIS (Agricultural Market Information System) and to share information so as to fight prices volatility within agricultural markets”. They also recommended that CIHEAM should “support Mediterranean countries in the development, in close collaboration with G20 follow-up group, of an information system on Mediterranean markets linked to AMIS, in collaboration with FAO, while taking advantage of its competencies and its speciality for country capacity-building. “
Two regional meetings dedicated to food security in the Mediterranean region constituted major stepping stones in confirming the converging interests of countries for this initiative, whose development was entrusted to CIHEAM : the first ministerial meeting of the 5+5 dialogue, that took place in Algiers on Nov, 27th 2013, and the 10th CIHEAM ministerial meeting that took place in Algiers on Feb. 6th, 2014, CIHEAM, following its cooperation mission in a spirit of multilateral dialogue, will accordingly propose a participatory approach for the network development, while associating closely with AMIS Secretariat located in FAO, Rome.
The situation caused by Covid 19 pandemic, showed as crucial it is for the decision makers to get engaged in cooperation.
