I would like to convey my warmest thanks for your invitation to join you today at a beautiful event, organized in the Community of Koli to celebrate Cypriot wine and Zivania. The organization for the second year of the Fair shows that it has been embraced by the local residents and beyond, highlighting the necessity of holding such events that play an important role in the tradition of our country.
My presence today is tangible proof of the real will of the Christodoulides Government to actively support the wine sector, as an important pillar of development, as well as initiatives aimed at promoting Cypriot wines and traditional alcoholic beverages such as zivania. Participation in such wine-related events and trainings, and in similar collective actions, are clearly aimed at ensuring the quality and hygiene of the products of the wine sector, improving their visibility and competitiveness and upgrading our country as a unique and specialised small-scale wine producer.
The wine policy and the strategy followed to achieve this objective are designed, developed, decided and validated in Brussels with the interactive participation of the technocrats of the Ministry of Agriculture. It takes precise account of the specific Cypriot conditions of production, processing and marketing, aiming to put our wine sector on a stable development path. The philosophy of our wine sector strategy is clearly defined. It is based on the triple comparative advantage of Cyprus consisting of the historical vineyard, which has never been affected by phylloxera, the rare indigenous varieties of wine production, and the uniqueness of the wine with the protected designation of origin "Koumandaria", constantly strive to improve the competitiveness and qualitative progress of wine products, the sustainability of the traditional wine-growing landscape and wine communities such as the Community of Koli, the perpetuation of our indigenous varieties, as well as to ensure food safety and consumer health.
In the current programming period up to the year 2027, the financial instrument for the implementation of our wine policy is the Strategic Plan of Cyprus for the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy. Beyond the financial contribution from purely European resources, the Strategic Plan of Cyprus contains our entire philosophy and strategy for the wine sector. It is expected that by the end of 2027, more than €22 million will have been allocated to vine growers and winemakers for the implementation of important interventions in the wine sector.
The Interventions include actions such as the restructuring and conversion of vineyards with varieties that may enjoy greater acceptance in the wine market, the linear underpinning of vineyards for better vegetation and production management, the construction and repair of traditional dry-stone walls, which are a key architectural element of the vineyards where there are soil slopes and erosion, and investments to modernise and improve the visibility of the wineries. In the marketing sector, this includes actions to promote Cyprus' wines in third countries, informing Union consumers about European quality systems and responsible consumption and, finally, introducing innovation in products, processes and services in the wine sector. We expect that these actions will contribute to the matching of grape production with wine demand and will be beneficial for the marketing of wine products.
Considering that similar amounts were invested in various support measures for the wine sector during the programming period 2019-2023, I believe that all the necessary elements are systematically provided for the substantial improvement of the competitiveness of our country's wine products.
Dear all,
I would like to congratulate the Coli Regional Centre for Agricultural Vocational Training and the Coli Community Council for the efforts and initiatives undertaken, seeking the continuous progress of this important region of our country.
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
Source[/P]
