At the sitting held on 24 February, the members of the Agriculture Committee discussed the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Programme of allocation and use of subsidy funds assigned for boosting agriculture and agricultural production in 2010; SANU memo on the education of rural population in Serbia and rural development; Bills on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of India on cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors; on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in the field of veterinary medicine and animal health protection; on the Confirmation of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes amended by the Protocol of amendment to the European Convention on the protection of vertebrates intended for experimental and other scientific purposes; on the Confirmation of the International Convention for the Protection New Varieties of Plants; on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Cross-Border Waterways and International Lakes and Amendments to articles 25 and 26 to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Cross-Border Waterways and International Lakes; on the Confirmation of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals and on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the State of Israel on cooperation in the field of agriculture.

The sitting was chaired by Zoran Masic, Committee Chairman, and attended by Assistant Ministers of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Milan Stegic and Milos Milovanovic and associates, as well as representatives of agricultural companies, the University and Serbian Chamber of Commerce.

Presenting the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Programme of allocation and use of subsidy funds assigned for boosting agriculture and agricultural production in 2010, the Assistant Ministers highlighted next year’s key foreign policy priorities and basic macroeconomic indicators that dictate the Ministry of Agriculture’s context of agrarian budget creation and legislative activity. They reiterated that last year the National Assembly passed 15 agricultural laws, and in line with them, additional 52 accompanying documents, that the 2010 agrarian budget makes up 3% of the total national budget, that in 2009 the agriculture exported 2 billion USD worth of agrarian products and was the only economic branch that had realised a foreign trade surplus. According to them, the subsidy allocation programme fully complies with the new Law on Agriculture and Rural Development, and the measures are centralised in the new institution – Direction for Agrarian Payments that has another very important task - preparation of the state for the use of EU pre-accession funds. The Ministry retained the credit support programme for agriculture reflected in granting short and long-term loans. The long-term loans are supported by 40% of interest-free funds granted by the Ministry, and a new line of credit is introduced i.e. long-term loans via local funds, where 50% of the funds would come from banks, and 25% each from the Ministry and local self-governments, where the funds coming from the Ministry and local self-governments would bear no interest.

In the long discussion on this item on the agenda, the Committee members insisted on an answer to the question of how the total amount of agricultural subsidies was allocated from all the positions in the agrarian budget. They also discussed when the funds would become operative, whether there was any discrimination of subjects when granting subsidies, how the issue of raspberry storage would be managed this year, whether there was any difference in the amount of subsidy for grape vine seedlings and whether and how the subsidising was controlled.

Following the discussion, the Committee members concluded to request all information on the subsidy allocation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, an overview of Ordinances passed by the Government and proposals of future Ordinances so that the Committee could vote on the Programme of allocation and use of subsidy funds. The Committee members also concluded to request from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management and the Government of the Republic of Serbia that a National Strategy of Agricultural Development be passed urgently; that the Ministry discuss subsidy re-allocation so as to eliminate discrimination of subjects in the use of subsidies; that the Ministry and the Government urgently implement concrete measures to solve all current problems of livestock farming; that the Serbian Society of Agricultural Economists analyse the agrarian share of the EU budget and the budgets of countries in the region and to hold a meeting between Ministry representatives, Agriculture Committee members and big agricultural producers to discuss the problems that the by large systems face and ways of overcoming them.

The Committee members went on to discuss SANU memo on the education of rural population in Serbia and rural development; Bills on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Republic of India on cooperation in the field of agriculture and allied sectors; on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on cooperation in the field of veterinary medicine and animal health protection; on the Confirmation of the European Convention for the protection of vertebrate animals used for experimental and other scientific purposes amended by the Protocol of amendment to the European Convention on the protection of vertebrates intended for experimental and other scientific purposes; on the Confirmation of the International Convention for the Protection New Varieties of Plants; on the Confirmation of the Convention on the Protection and Use of Cross-Border Waterways and International Lakes and Amendments to articles 25 and 26 to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Cross-Border Waterways and International Lakes; on the Confirmation of the European Convention for the Protection of Pet Animals and on the Confirmation of the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the State of Israel on cooperation in the field of agriculture. The Committee members endorsed all the Bills unanimously.