Iran is interested in increasing cooperation with Serbia in agriculture, primarily in the fields of plant protection and production of seeds as well as scientific research, officials of the two countries’ ministries of agriculture said after a meeting in Belgrade.
Deputy minister of agriculture, Abbas Keshavarz, who was leading an agricultural delegation to Serbia, met with Serbian Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Snezana Bogosavljevic Boskovic on Wednesday. Both parties agreed to boost the level of cooperation in agriculture, IRNA reported.
The Iranian official proposed cooperation between the two countries in “Agriculture Beyond Borders” program, as part of which Iran is planning to cultivate crops in foreign land to address food security issue.
“We are currently assessing Serbia as a possible destination for implementing the program,” Keshavarz said.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Boskovic welcomed an invitation from her Iranian colleague to visit Tehran in the near future.
The Iranian delegation also visited an institute for plant and seed modification in Novi Sad and held meetings with officials from the University of Novi Sad’s Faculty of Agriculture, seeking to boost cooperation in agricultural research and education.
Keshavarz announced that an Iranian delegation of industrial, mining, trade, culture, sport and agricultural officials will visit Serbia soon, adding that this will be an opportunity to make preparations for the next meeting of the two countries’ joint cooperation committee, which will convene in Tehran by the end of this year.
