Italy Partner Country at 86th International Agricultural Fair – 27 Italian companies to come to Novi Sad

The Belgrade office of the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) is organizing an official Italian collective exhibit at the International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad once again this year. This will be Italy’s seventh consecutive attendance of the most important agricultural event in the region and its second in the capacity of the Partner Country. Italy was the Friend Country at the 82nd edition of the fair and the Partner Country at the 83rd International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad.

– We take this partnership very seriously, and the foundation of each successful partnership relation lies in good communication. That is why the focus at this Agricultural Fair will once again be placed on establishing contacts between Italian and Serbian business people, but also business people from the whole region – the director of the ITA Belgrade office, Marina Scognamiglio, said at the press conference held at the Italian Palace.

She pointed out that Italian companies were once again very interested in attending the fair in Novi Sad.

– I have to note that this will be a record-breaking year, both in terms of the size of the stand and the number of companies from the food and agriculture sector. Our pavilion will be located in Hall 1 of the Novi Sad Fair and cover an area of 440 m2, and 27 Italian companies will exhibit within it – Scognamiglio said. According to her, in addition to a large number of Italian companies taking part in the fair, a large number of delegations from the Balkans will attend the fair as well, visiting the collective Italian exhibit and taking part in numerous B2B meetings.

Scognamiglio emphasized that, according to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, the trade between Serbia and Italy had increased in 2018. The export of goods from Serbia to Italy increased by 27.9%, whereas the import from Italy grew by 3.42%.

– I also have to emphasize that EUR 110 million will be set aside from the IPARD funds for Serbia alone in 2019. This is important both for Serbia companies, which can use these funds to modernize their farming production, and for Italy, in the sense of having the presence of Italian know-how technologies increase – Marina Scognamiglio said.

Italian Ambassador to Serbia Carlo Lo Cascio pointed out that the International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad was important both for the integration of Italian and Serbian companies and for connecting the two economies.

– The 2018 data confirm that Italy is undoubtedly one of Serbia’s most important partners. Last year, our bilateral trade exceeded the amount of EUR 4 billion for the first time, which is certainly very important. More than 600 companies in Serbia employ 25 to 30 thousand people, and this number is constantly growing – the ambassador said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management of Serbia will also have its stand at the 86th International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad.

– This event is high on the list of priorities of the Ministry of Agriculture, because we believe that the Novi Sad fair is a great opportunity for our agriculturists to learn about and see all the latest devices and achievements in this field in one place, allowing them to get all the necessary secondary materials for their production, while also learning about new developments in agriculture. We are free to say that the fair in Novi Sad has become a brand which is important not just for agriculturists and the professional and scientific community in Serbia, but in the whole region as well – said Zeljko Radosevic, the state secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture.

He reminded that a large number of lectures, panels and round tables would be organized during the fair, and all agriculturists will be provided with all the necessary information about the agrarian policy of Serbia in direct contact with the ministry’s representatives at the stand.

The Friend Country at this year’s fair is Tunisia, and this will be their second presentation at the Agriculture Fair. The agricultural sector in Tunisia employs 18.5% of the workforce, and 12 companies from this African country will seek partners at the Novi Sad fair, said Tunisian Ambassador to Serbia Seyf-Allah Rejeb.

Slobodan Cvetkovic, the director of the Novi Sad Fair, emphasized that this would be probably the best edition of the International Agricultural Fair up to that point.

– All the numbers say that all our expectations have already been exceeded. There will be over 1,500 companies-exhibitors, more precisely, 1,518. There will be representatives of institutions and organization from 32 countries directly and from another 61 countries indirectly, through representations. For the first time, we have both the Friend Country and the Partner Country, and another new feature is that we will have the first genetic potential exhibit within the National Livestock Exhibit. Also the Fruit Day will be organized for the first time – Cvetkovic said.

As he said, over 17 collective exhibits will take place, and companies from Belarus, Egypt and Taiwan, countries which didn’t take part in the last year’s fair, will also present themselves. A total of 23 exhibitors are coming from India, as well as nearly 30 companies from Italy, and there will also be representatives from Austria, Croatia, Germany, Turkey, North Macedonia, Slovenia and Spain. For the first time, the Association of Manufacturers of Agricultural Machines from Russia will take part in the fair.

Valuable awards are available to all visitors. The company Agropanonka, which will take part in the fair for the 21st time, will gift its 22nd tractor this year, worth over EUR 20,000. The Novi Sad-based company Kite is also offering a gift at the fair, and the luckiest visitor will win a John Deere 4050 tractor.

Another partner of this year’s International Agricultural Fair is Generali Osiguranje, which will offer numerous products to agriculturists at its stand.

The International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad will be held from May 11 through 17.

D. O.

ICE-Italijanska agencija za spoljnu trgovinu Beograd

Republički zavod za statistiku

Ambasada Italije Srbija

Ambasada Tunisa Beograd

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Novosadski sajam a.d. Novi Sad

Kite doo Novi Sad

Generali Osiguranje Srbija a.d.o. Beograd

Agropanonka MTZ Finke Novi Sad

ITA

International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad

Marina Scognamiglio

Carlo Lo Cascio

Zeljko Radosevic

Seyf Allah Rejeb

Slobodan Cvetkovic

IPARD funds

Italy Partner Country at International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad

National Livestock Exhibit at Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad

Fruit Day at Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad