Tiraspol, 19 January. /Novosti Pridnestrovya/. Pridnestrovie and the Italian region of Marche will establish cooperation in the sphere of agriculture. A delegation of Italian businessmen is currently on a study visit in Pridnestrovie. The delegation also includes the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Pesaro-Urbino, Alberto Drudi, who is also the vice-president of the chamber of commerce of the Marche region.
The businessmen will stay in Pridnestrovie for a week. Today they have already met the first deputy prime minister, Alevtina Slinchenko, and discussed agricultural cooperation with the agricultural minister, Yefimiy Koval, and heads of some agricultural enterprises of Pridnestrovie.
«This is our first meeting, and agriculture seems very interesting to us. The purpose of the visit is to find the areas in which we are most interested to cooperate," said Alberto Drudi during the meeting.
The agricultural minister told the guests about today's agricultural sector of the republic, noting that one of its main sub-industries is growing corn. «The area of farmland in the country is 268,000 ha, over 200,000 of which accounts for arable land," said the minister.
According to the commerce chamber president, one of the promising areas for future cooperation is supplies of durum wheat from the PMR to Italy for macaroni production. To date, the majority of Pridnestrovian wheat producers supply their products to Europe through corn traders. The businessmen proposed to organise direct cooperation in this sphere, excluding middlemen.
According to the Italian businessman Mauro Murgia, another sector in which cooperation can be established is processing of dairy products, in particular, production of cheeses. Yefimiy Koval stated that today this niche in the Pridnestrovian market is mostly occupied by imported goods. The establishment of joint Italian-Pridnestrovian enterprises can improve the situation. Mauro Murgia noted that this experience for Marche's businessmen is not new -after Russia imposed food embargo on supplies from Europe, Italian companies had to transfer their production to Russia to avoid losing market outlets.
Also, according to the businessmen of both countries, another promising area of cooperation is the exchange of best practices in the agricultural sphere and supplies from Italy to Pridnestrovie of modern agricultural machinery.
During the next visit of foreign businessmen, specific contracts may be signed.
