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| The meeting table of the two Governments |
This was agreed at today's meeting of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Bledi Cuci, with his counterpart of North Macedonia, Trajan Dimkovski, who is in Tirana in an official visit.
Minister Cuci said during the meeting that the two countries have strong ties with each other and a common agenda on the path to European integration. Consequently, cooperation in the agricultural sector and rural development should be intensified.
"The most important point on our agenda and that we have reached the stage where we have to give them a solution, not delaying it, is related to the Phytosanitary Cooperation Agreement between the two countries. Steps have been taken since the last ministerial meeting, reducing the control of phytosanitary tests from 100% to 20%. The time has come for us to review this 20% as well, ”said Minister Çuçi, emphasizing here the fact that Albanian agricultural products are exported to all European countries today without barriers and so far there has been no return on security-related issues.
The minister also referred to his counterpart the problem of exporting UHT milk from Albania to Northern Macedonia, citing some Albanian companies of high standards that are being impeded by the neighboring country's authorities to sell their products.
In addition, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development outlined two other problems that need to be addressed; the export of live animals to North Macedonia and the joint administration of the two border lakes in connection with fishing.
“We import live animals from North Macedonia. I honestly don't understand why we have barriers to reverse flow; export of animals from Albania to your country. It is time to have a mutually healthy relationship with this movement,” said Minister Cuci.
In the end, the two ministers agreed that three working groups would pursue these issues at a technical level and then reach an agreement.