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- Ελληνικά
This year marks twenty years since the establishment of the Cyprus Agricultural Payments Organisation (CAP), twenty years of essential work and contribution to the agricultural world of our country.
During this time the Organisation, from a small group of individuals, has grown, staffed, developed structures, technology, acquired specialisation and mechanisms for self-control and self-improvement. It has managed to carry out its work in a difficult changing environment, the shaping of which depends not on Cyprus and the Agency itself but on the whole of the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union in relation to the Common Agricultural Policy.
It is a fact that Cyprus, despite being an equal member of the Union, due to its small size and local characteristics, sometimes faces challenges in the implementation of policies and measures in the agricultural sector. It is in this complex environment that the CMO operates and carries out its mission. As a result of European legislation, the Agency is the administrator of the funds paid to final beneficiaries and is responsible for preventing and combating irregularities.
The funding channelled to beneficiaries ensures the implementation of the Agricultural Policy in Cyprus, which plays a key role in the rural development of our country. During these twenty years, the Agency has ensured the payment to farmers of direct payments such as extensification payments and various financial aids in specific sectors of production. It has taken care of the payment of beneficiaries of Rural Development Measures in various programming periods, starting with the Rural Development Plan 2004-2006, the Rural Development Programmes 2007-2013 and 2014-2020, and since this year it has been managing the payments of the Strategic Plan 2023-2027. It also pays the amounts to which participants in the Common Market Organisation Measures are entitled.
In its twenty years of operation, the CAP has managed a total amount of money approaching two billion euros, 60% of which has been disbursed from EU funds. The success, apart from the numbers, lies in the fact that in all three previous programming periods, 100% of the European funds were absorbed.
Dear friends,
Ahead of us are new challenges and new opportunities for local agriculture. Since the beginning of this year, the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 has been adopted by the European Commission and implemented. The Plan provides for total funding of €454 million, which will be channelled into actions that promote the sustainability and competitiveness of farms and provide incentives for the technological upgrading of the agricultural sector. Together with actions that improve the position of farmers in the food chain, we aim to boost their agricultural income. At the same time, the Plan aims to improve agricultural practices in order to achieve environmental protection, the transition to sustainable agriculture while contributing to tackling climate change. Above all, of course, we place human health as a key objective of our strategy, and to this end, through the Strategic Plan, actions are being promoted to produce safe food for humans. Our objectives also include the development of mountainous areas, for which incentives are provided which will create conditions for residents to stay and work there.
The aim of the Government of Nikos Christodoulides is to create a robust primary sector, which will be ready to respond to the concerns of producers and consumers, to feed the younger generations, but also to protect the environment in which the farmer can operate in harmony and with respect. The Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2027 has been shaped with a focus on people. The man-farmer, the man-consumer, the man who cares about protecting the environment and respects human health, the man in mountainous areas, the man who is familiar with new technologies, the man who develops a culture of synergies and cooperation.
These are our goals, this is our vision for the agriculture of our country and I am sure that with the assistance of the Agricultural Payments Agency and other stakeholders of rural development, together we will succeed. The achievements of these twenty years have been based on the creative cooperation of the Agency with the Departments of the Ministry, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Environment, the Department of Veterinary Services, the Department of Water Development, and the Rural Development Programme Management Authority. The Ministry of Agriculture was defining the strategic objectives and the policy to be followed, always with a view to rural development and the improvement of farmers' income, and the CAP, together with the departments of the Ministry, as well as with other Ministries and agencies, ensured their implementation.
Commissioner,
In conclusion, I would like to thank you for inviting me to address such an important event.
In conclusion, I would like to thank you for the invitation to address such an important event. I would like to stress that I have no doubt that the successful course of the CIP will continue in the future. Your accumulated experience is the basis, but also the certainty that in the future the CMO will continue to play a decisive role in the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy and will have an important share in achieving the objectives of rural development of our country.
Thank you.
(MGS)
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