Three agricultural twinning projects between Algeria and the European Union (EU) have been launched on Sunday here in order to upgrade the regulation and facilitate the access of the Algerian agricultural produces to the European markets.
The projects’ launch ceremony was attended by Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Abdelouahab Nouri, Trade Minister, Amara Benyounes, Ambassadors respectively of the EU, France and Italy to Algiers as well as Algerian and European experts.
The projects are funded by EU at €6 million.
So, the first project concerns the human capacity building in the areas of food safety, and this by upgrading the laboratories of the National Institute of Veterinary Medicine (INMV), while the second one covers the modernization of Algerian veterinary services at the central and local level.
These two twinning projects will enable Algeria to have an information system and a veterinary control similar to that recommended by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).
Indeed, the agriculture industry will be able to set up a livestock identification system and a national plan for contaminating residues in food of animal origin, as explained by the Director of Veterinary Services at the Ministry of Agriculture, Karim Boughalem.
This partnership will also hoist the INMV and seven regional laboratories to international standards that will be placed under the quality management system (QMS) and the management system of biological risks.
The objective sought from of these two twinning projects "is to improve the safety of food products of animal origin in order to ensure their marketing in the local market and facilitate their export to the EU and other foreign destinations," Nouri said.
As for the third project, it concerns guaranteeing a technical support to the administration in the application of a specific quality system through the designations of origin and geographical indications (IGAO).
This initiative is part of the support programme to the implementation of the Association Agreement signed between Algeria and the EU in 2005, which provides for the establishment of a free trade zone by 2020.