A special media briefing session on agriculture and rural development was held on 13th December at the EU Information Centre in Istanbul with the participation of Counsellor Ulrike Hauer and Sector Manager for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, Kai Bauer. The two officials shared with the journalists the challenges and opportunities Turkey was faced with in the sector during the accession process.

The speakers underlined that in the period 2002-2006, € 166 millions were provided to Turkey through 15 projects for institution building in the agricultural sector. It was underlined that from 2007 the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) was available and that it included not only the institution building component, but also a dedicated component for rural development (IPARD) from which individual farmers could benefit.

Please click here for the presentation “Challenges and Opportunities for Agriculture and Rural Development”.

To access the information note on agriculture and rural development, please click here.