IPARD PROGRAM EVALUATION MEETING

“IPARD Program Evaluation Meeting” was held by the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution (ARDSI).

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director of the European Union (EU) Ambassador Faruk Kaymakcı, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Ayşe Ayşin Işıkgece, Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Ambassador Nikolaus Meyer Landrut, ARDSI President Dr. Muhammed Adak, EU Presidency Financial Cooperation and Project Implementation General Manager Bülent Özcan, Agricultural Reform Deputy General Manager and IPARD Managing Authority Chairman Dr. Osman Yıldız, officials of relevant institutions and ARDSI managers attended.

ARDSI President Dr. In his speech at the meeting held at the ARDSI Dursun Çolak Conference Hall, Muhammed Adak said that the success of the IPARD Program, which has been implemented for ten years, is shown as an example to other candidate countries by the European Commission. For this reason, Adak stated that they transferred the experiences gained in practice to other candidate countries for the European Union through cooperation protocols.

“Our successful work in the field of rural development has shown a serious performance in the last 2 years, and it has been possible to prevent pandemics and so on. Despite the adverse conditions, contracts were signed with many investors and it was possible to pay high amounts of grants. We believe that cooperation and experience sharing with European Union member and candidate countries is important. That's why we work closely with the European Commission and payment agencies in member states. As the Agriculture and Rural Development Support Institution, we think that the investments to be made in our rural areas within the scope of the IPARD Program will strengthen our relations if the representatives of the EU Embassies in our country visit them on site. We will be very happy to see your support in organizing such study visit programs so that the delegations to be formed by the EU Delegation and the representatives of the embassies of the European Union member and candidate countries will see the IPARD projects on site.”

Ayşe Ayşin Işıkgece, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, stated that more than 80 thousand employment opportunities were created in rural areas within the scope of the program, and that thanks to IPARD, both potential was revealed and facilities were built in EU standards.

Thanking the European Commission for this support and cooperation, Işıkgece said, “The scope of the IPARD Program and the integrated approach it brought in the field of rural development have also been a source of inspiration for other rural development programs implemented in our country, and it has helped to expand the scope of these support programs and to develop project acceptance, inspection and control systems. contributed. These supports need to be expanded in 81 provinces, the EU should take this into account when considering the success of the program. As the Ministry, we have also completed the preparations for the IPARD III Program. I believe we can launch the IPARD III Program in the 4th quarter of this year.” made evaluations.

“The European Green Deal has an important place in agriculture”

The Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, Nikolaus Meyer Landrut, stated that he saw the implementations of the IPARD Program in Turkey during the field visits and they were extremely pleased with this success. Pointing out that they care about supporting young investors in the new period, Landrut emphasized that they want this to set an example for new investments. Expressing that these supports increase competition and innovation, Landrut shared the following information:

“Competition has also increased among female investors and good investments have emerged. These are important gains for our future cooperation. In the new period, I will inform the European Commission of your request and the reasons for increasing the budget. The problems in agriculture in Turkey and EU countries are similar. The European Green Deal has an important place in agriculture.”