The Commission increases the budget for promoting EU agricultural products

The Commission adopted the 2017 promotion strategy for EU agricultural products with a total budget of €133 million. This amount will co-finance several programmes, most of which will target third countries and regions, including China, the Middle East, North America, Southeast Asia and Japan. This support for promotion of EU products both in the internal market and in third countries builds on the momentum launched earlier this year by Commissioner Hogan’s diplomatic offensive to find new markets and support consumption of EU products abroad.  Returning from his business mission to Vietnam and Indonesia, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan said: “I welcome these new programmes, especially in the context of the recent market difficulties. I was just now travelling in Asia as part of our efforts to boost agri-food exports, and I am struck by the interest being shown by importers and consumers in this part of the world. The further expansion of our promotion programmes next year is also particularly important as this will also help to stimulate growth and jobs in the agri-food sector. EU wide, we see that an increase in exports of €1 billion supports roughly 14,000 jobs. I am particularly pleased that this includes a new initiative to boost products from sustainable agriculture.” The 2017 budget represents a clear increase compared with the €111 million from this year, outlining the support provided to EU agri-food producers.