The Hungarian EU presidency and a group of central and eastern European countries cooperating on circular bioeconomies focused on rural areas in seeking to maintain and even strengthen environmental sustainability have organised a high-level political forum in Brussels with a view to promoting research and innovation in CEE, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday.
The ten BIOEAST member states have presented a declaration emphasising the importance of a joint, Europe-wide R&I partnership focusing on the priorities of central and eastern Europe. The aim is the sustainable production of agricultural, forestry and sweet-water products, and producing high value-added products from them, the declaration said. Preserving food security and a biomass-based economy is key to a sustainable social and economic development, the statement said.
The forum, Partnering for the Future, was held at Hungary’s permanent representation in Brussels with representatives from 27 EU member states and EU institutions attending. At the forum, they presented a declaration signed by the agriculture and research ministers of Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The meeting also touched on matters regarding the EU’s enlargement. Participants agreed that EU frameworks and funds play an important in EU cohesion and in the accession of Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. A European R&I partnership focusing on eastern Europe could further boost the process, they said. The Central-Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-based Agriculture, Aquaculture and Forestry in the Bioeconomy (BIOEAST) has asked the European Commission, Council and Parliament to consider the declaration when planning the financial framework for the next cycle, they said.