At the sitting held on 1 December, the members of the Agriculture Committee considered the Bills on the Confirmation of the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Argentina in the sphere of veterinary medicine; on the Confirmation of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt on veterinary cooperation; on the Confirmation of the Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Tunisia in the sphere of veterinary medicine and on the Confirmation of the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement in the sphere of agriculture between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Tunisia.

In a short debate on the Bills, the Committee members had several objections to the Bill on the Confirmation of the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement in the sphere of agriculture between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of Tunisia regarding the defined areas of cooperation (plant protection, seeds and seeding material and cattle breeding). The Committee members also requested additional explanations from Veterinary Administration Director Zoran Micovic regarding the genetically modified soybeans and their use as animal feed in Argentina.

Following the debate the Committee members accepted the Bills by a majority of votes.

In the continuation, the Veterinary Administration Director informed the Committee members on the accidental swine plague outbreak on the territory of the municipalities of Sremska Mitrovica, Ruma and Sid. He stated that the disease in question was plague type1, unfortunately caused by the poor implementation of preventive measures on one farm in Srem. The Veterinary Administration did everything in line with EU standards, the outbreak area was isolated and the infected animals destroyed. The money to compensate the individual agricultural producers was secured, and the vaccination of pigs against the plague would not be discontinued.

The Committee members requested that the Veterinary Administration Director provide full information on the accident for the Committee’s next sitting.

For the remainder of the sitting the Committee discussed the road blocks in two locations near Sombor and the need to hold one of the upcoming sittings outside of the Committee’s seat.

The sitting was chaired by Committee Deputy Chairman Sinisa Stamenkovic.