Public Closing Meeting of Twinning Project in Prishtina

CLOSING OF THE TW PROJECT “Support to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Devel-opment (MAFRD)in legislative and policy development and in implementing the Agricultural and Rural Development Program (ARDP)”

On 23 January 2012 an EU financed Twinning Project in the field of agriculture and rural development between public institutions from Austria, Germany and Hungary and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development in Kosovo formally started. The official Closing Meeting was held today at Hotel Emerald in the presence of Mr. Blerand STAVILECI, Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development (MAFRD), Mr. Melvin ASIN, Deputy Head of Cooperation at the European Union Office in Kosovo, the Embassy officials from Austria, Germany and Hungary and other high official representatives and experts from different national and international institutions involved in the agricultural sector.
The overall objective of this Twinning was to increase the contribution of the agriculture and rural development sector to economic development and growth in Kosovo. The project purpose was to strengthen administrative structures within the MAFRD and civil society organisations as well as to formulate and implement the national agriculture and rural development programme in conformity with European principles and standards.
This objectives were reached through co-shared efforts from local MAFRD experts as well as international experts coming from the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, the Austrian Paying Agency Agrarmarkt Austria, the Austrian Federal Institute of Agricultural Economics, the German Ministry for Economics and Science in Saarland, the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, the Hungarian Ministry of Rural Development as well as the Hungarian Research Institute of Agricultural Economics to support the counterparts here in Kosovo.
The commonly agreed project work plan focused on 5 main components: Mid-term Evaluation of the current Agriculture and Rural Development Program (ARDP) 2007-2013 and the preparation the ARDP 2014-2020, capability strengthening of socio-economic partners (civil society organisations, local action groups, agricultural producer organisations and other stakeholders) for the dialogue with the MAFRD in programming and implementing the ARDP 2014-2020, further strengthening of ARDP implementing structures like Managing Authority, Paying Unit, Advisory Service and Monitoring Committee, preparation of a framework for an Agricultural Information System (AIS) and the development of a comprehensive IT Master plan for MAFRD.
The project budget of € 2.2 million was financed by the EU (€ 2.0 million) and the national Kosovo budget (€ 0.2). The project activities have been implemented within 27 months, from January 2012 to April 2014 by more than 1,100 expert days and one Resident Twinning Adviser, who was full-time seconded to MAFRD.

The most valuable final result of this Twinning Project is the development of the new Agriculture and Rural Development Program (ARDP) 2014-2020. This programme has been based on the findings from the conducted Mid-term Evaluation of the ARDP 2007-2013 as well as the accompanying Ex-ante Evaluation, both implemented by independent international experts. The ARDP 2014-2020 is now ready for the Governmental adoption and already yet rated by EC services in Brussels as a well advanced program for the sector meeting the EU IPARD II requirements.
The Twinning Project supported actively the capacity building process of all institutions involved in the implementation of the ARDP 2014-2020 as the Managing Authority within MAFRD, responsible for the ARDP programming process, its consultation with stakeholders and the proper management of the ARDP after its approval by the Government, and the Agriculture Developing Agency (ADA) as Paying Agency, responsible for the proper implementation of all agriculture and rural support schemes.
The introduction of the so called Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) as well as the statistical publications as e.g. the Green Report 2013 are other valuable results of the Twinning Project and will have a positive impact not only for the policy making process.
In December 2013 MAFRD as well as the Paying Agency could present their achievements during the last two years in a technical working meeting with representatives from the European Commission in Brussels, who appreciated the progress in the agricultural sector a lot.
Further information please find under: www.ARDP-Kosovo.eu
Contact person for further information:
Mr. Kapllan HALIMI, KS Project Leader, Tel.: +381 (0)38 211 834