BE :r. aresı20211481 1173 - 2770772021

Courtesy translation

Warsaw, 23 July 2021

 

AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Grzegorz Puda

Case Id.: DWM.we.083.4.2021

Mr
Janusz Wojciechowski
Member of the European Commission

for Agriculture

Dear Commissioner,

I would like to cordially invite you to the Summit of the Ministers of Agriculture of the Three Seas
region, i.e. Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The Summit will be held on October 24-25, 2021 in

Kraköw.

I believe that deepening of the cooperation of the countries of our region should be done through joint
discussion, exchange of opinions and searching for convergent positions on important topics in the
field of agriculture, especially in difficult times such as the crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Therefore, at the Summit, I would like to discuss a few issues that I consider particularly important for

the future of agriculture in our countries.

The main topic of the Summit will be the issue of securing the production of feed protein in the Three
Seas region. The problem of dependence on external supplies of soybean meal as the basic source
of feed protein has been present in the European Union for a long time. In recent years, the European
Union has undertaken several initiatives to look for alternatives to imports of soybean meal. The need
to rebuild the protein plant market has been announced by the European Commission in several
official documents. In this context, the discussion on scientific and university cooperation as well as
the exchange of experiences between the Three Seas countries is also important. I sincerely believe

that in the conclusions of the meeting we will manage to adopt a Joint Declaration on this subject.

During the meeting in Krakow, I would like to additionally propose a discussion on the impact of the
Common Agricultural Policy on the transformation of agriculture and rural areas of the Three Seas

region towards a green and digital economy.

The third subject would be the challenges connected with food systems research and innovation. Tam
convinced that the joint debate of the countries of the Three Seas region, identification of research
needs and appropriate targeting of EU framework programs provided for this purpose will enable
faster achievement of the goals of transforming food systems in Europe to be more sustainable,

healthy and inclusive.

Please find attached the draft program of the Summit. The remaining documents related to the meeting
(practical information, registration form, points for discussion) will be send at the level of working

contacts of our administrations.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my colleagues from the

Department for International Cooperation, whose contact details are provided in the program.

I will be grateful for confirmation of your participation in the meeting together with the accompanying

delegation by September 28, 2021 at the latest.

Looking forward to your visit and our fruitful discussions, I hope that your participation in the meeting
in Kraköw will give a special dimension to our discussion and will contribute to deepening the
cooperation of the countries of our region, which is so important in times of recovery from the crisis

related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges that European agriculture is currently facing.

Yours sincerely
Grzegorz Puda

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