Representatives of fruit and vegetable processing companies and associations from Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Greece, Bulgaria and Bosnia&Herzegovina take part at a regional conference in Ohrid on Thursday.

The conference aims at bringing together fruit and vegetable processing stakeholders towards intensifying cooperation, but also review opportunities over the use of European funds for projects within EU framework programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020.

Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Ljupco Dimovski referred to the strategic documents that the Government has adopted in the field of agriculture, aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Macedonian products and developing the processing industry.

"This industry is the key segment in agriculture development. We are continually working with processing companies, providing budget funds and other financial support. We are also discussing the introduction of new measures and policies towards achieving positive results", said Dimovski.

He also highlighted the activities for simplification of the procedures for loans used for opening of new capacities at a subsidized interest rate, but also enlarging and modernizing existing facilities.

Saso Risteski, executive director of the Macedonian Association of Fruit and Vegetable Processing Companies, said the Ohrid conference would present the modern trends regarding the sale of such products at the big markets, especially in the EU, as well as steps and ways of turning cooperation into more serious EU-funded projects.