Today, a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Swiss-Ukrainian program "Development of Higher Value Added Trade in the Organic and Dairy Sectors of Ukraine" (Quality FOOD Trade Program) was held.

The event brought together Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, representatives of the Ukrainian public sector, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), and business associations.

At the beginning of his speech, Taras Vysotsky expressed his sincere gratitude to Switzerland for its support and prompt assistance to Ukrainian small and medium-sized businesses engaged in the production of organic and dairy products, especially in conditions that are not always favorable. He highly appreciated the joint efforts of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, together with the experts of the Quality FOOD Trade Program (QFTP), to develop a plan for the restoration and development of the organic and dairy sectors in Ukraine.

He also emphasized that the Ministry is working to adapt Ukrainian legislation in the field of organic production to the requirements and standards of the European Union. This is an important step towards expanding the opportunities for exporting Ukrainian organic products to international markets.

The First Deputy Minister emphasized that the production of higher value-added products is becoming one of the main priorities of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, as the potential for such products in the organic and dairy sectors is extremely high. He also noted that an important task is to ensure quality control of products and promote their compliance with quality standards.

The meeting participants also noted the importance of supporting and empowering small and medium-sized organic and dairy producers, and emphasized the need to implement measures to mitigate the impact of the war on entrepreneurs in these sectors.

At the final stage of the meeting, the participants reviewed and approved the action plan for the second phase of the Quality FOOD Trade Program (QFTP), which will last until mid-2024.