EU and Türkiye to Celebrate the Success of IPARD Programme

Ankara 9 December 2016

IPARD programme (Pre-Accession Instrument in Agriculture and Rural Development) has a budget of EUR 1.59 EUR for years 2007-2020. It provides grants to investments in agriculture, food processing and rural businesses in 42 provinces of Türkiye. Each project is also co-financed from the Turkish public budget and partly by private investment by the beneficiary (the total investment generated is in the range of EUR 4 billion). So far some 11 000 projects have been implemented and 50 000 jobs created.  The second edition of IPARD programme is about to start.The IPARD programme is managed by the Turkish administration, substantially in line with the EU standards.

Mr Gabriel Munuera Vinals, Deputy Head of EU Delegation in Ankara and Mr John Clarke, Director responsible for IPARD in DG Agriculture of the European Commission, from the European Union and Mr. Mehmet Daniş Deputy Minister of Food, Agriculture and Livestock will be joining to the event and will present plaques to a group of 10 farmers and rural businesses benefiting from the EU pre-accession programme for agriculture and rural development (IPARD) to celebrate the success of the IPARD Programme. Mr Clarke will participate to the ceremony on behalf of Mr Hogan, the EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, who had to postpone his visit, for medical reasons.  However, he expects to visit Türkiye again in early 2017 to further engage on IPARD with the Turkish authorities, having previously been to Istanbul in May 2015.

"We can be proud of our joint achievements", says Mr Clarke. "We have had a demanding process of building the institution for 8 years. We can say that the model is working well. We have set a new standard for projects in the sector fully in line with the EU food hygiene standards and state of the art technology. Türkiye has already built a very solid project pipeline for IPARD II. This is a good indication of our joint success for the near future."

The ten beneficiaries that will be present in Ankara will be representing more than 11 000 Turkish farms, food processors and rural businesses, which have benefited from the IPARD programme so far.

"The EU is very happy to see such a variety of projects today ranging from upgrading milk production on farms, sheep and goat breeding, construction of milk collection centres, to areas like rural tourism, crafts or beekeeping. This illustrates very clearly the EU commitment to balanced relations with Türkiye …" says Mr Clarke.

Moreover, Mr Clarke adds that we should continue improving the programme in the coming years up to 2020. We need to focus IPARD II even more on the key strategic areas. "The European Union encourages Türkiye now to test new approaches such as support to environmentally friendly farming or renewable energy for public use. Of course, we will continue to support investments in farming, food processing and rural businesses because it has worked very well in strengthening our relations with Türkiye".

For more information, please contact the Delegation:

Leyla Alma, Tel: (+90 312) 459 87 00; E-mail: leyla.alma@eeas.europa.eu

For more information on IPARD Programme: http://www.ipard.gov.tr/