Croatian Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic was in Washington for talks with U.S. officials on the possibilities of U.S. investment in Croatian agriculture. Click below for full text.
Croatian Agriculture Minister Cobankovic Meets With U.S. Officials in Washington
Croatian Agriculture Minister Petar Cobankovic discussed with U.S. officials in Washington on Friday possibilities of U.S. investment in Croatian agriculture and informed them of Croatia's experience in fighting the bird flu.
Cobankovic acquainted Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns (above photo, at right) with projects in which U.S. investors could be interested, primarily a national irrigation project, in which Croatia plans to invest half a billion dollars over the next four years.
Speaking to Croatian reporters after the meeting, Cobankovic said current U.S. investment in Croatia was "very small" and mainly limited to Croatian emigrants.
Another area which could attract U.S. investment is the production of organic food, which accounts for a mere 0.3 per cent of Croatia's overall food output.
Currently mine-infested areas offer one possibility for producing organic food because they have not been used for years and are therefore not polluted with chemicals. Croatia offers investing in mine-clearing and later in production of eco-food.
Croatia´s export of farm and food products to the United States in 2005 was USD 17 million while imports were about USD 23 million.
Cobankovic said Croatia-U.S. trade could considerably increase if eco-production went up significantly and if US partners took part in it.
The minister said the Americans were especially interested in the ecological manufacturing of wine. He added Croatia would also like to see investment in its development priorities, including cattle-breeding and the production of fruit, vegetables, grapes, olives and flowers.
Cobankovic said the talks also addressed outstanding issues. He underlined that the U.S. understood that Croatia was on the road to the European Union and must honour its regulations, settling problems through its relationship with the Union.
Cobankovic said Johanns underlined that the U.S. supported Croatia's accession to the EU "without any reservations".
Cobankovic presented Croatia´s experience in fighting avian influenza at the Department of Agriculture and at a State Department meeting with the national coordinator for the disease, John Lange.
The Americans are aware that it is a matter of days before wild birds infected with the H5N1 deadly strain will arrive in the US and wish to use to combat it the Croatian method, which has proven to be one of the most successful in the world. "They were very interested," said Cobankovic.
Croatia´s method consists of careful monitoring of movements of wild birds and the taking of samples to see if they are infected. When infected birds were discovered on several occasions, the Croatian authorities reacted swiftly, closing off the area where the birds were found within a three-kilometre radius, and subsequently, if it was necessary, culling domestic poultry so as to prevent the spreading of the virus to domestic poultry and possibly to humans.
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