“Hungarian agricultural enterprises have expanded their presence in Russia recently and the realisation of further investments and projects on the part of Hungarian enterprises can be expected”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said following a meeting with the Governor of the Russian Federation’s federal subject of Voronezh Oblast, Alexey Vasilyevich Gordeyev in his office on Thursday.

“The goal of the Ministry is to tighten agricultural cooperation with Russian regions within areas that are not covered by the food embargo”, Mr. Fazekas stressed at the meeting. The Minister said that Hungarian companies are particularly active within the areas of agricultural seeds and feeds, as well as in the milk processing and cattle sectors, and there are already existing or planned investments within these fields in Voronezh.

Governor Gordeyev indicated that one of the region’s goals is the reinforcement of the animal husbandry cluster and highlighted investments within the milk processing and meat processing sectors as areas that are worthy of attention on the part of Hungarian enterprises. The Governor said that there was also an interest in expanding relations within the fields of regional development and irrigation, in addition to which he invited the Hungarian Minister to visit the region. Both parties highlighted the development of bilateral relations within the field of agriculture and agreed to take further action in the interests of enabling each other’s products to reach the other’s markets while taking into account the opportunities provided by the current regulatory situation.

The high-level delegation from Voronezh reinforces the Ministry of Agriculture’s standpoint according to which the development of direct professional and business relations with Russian regions within the fields of agriculture, the food industry and environmental protection is vital. The Voronezh region, which has a population of 2.3 million, is the Russian Federation’s sixth most important region with relation to agriculture and will be hosting the next session of the European Regional Conference of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 2018.

(Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)