At the Conference on the Mutual Cooperation of the Regional Countries’ Cooperatives, held within the 12th International Ethnic Food and Drink Fair, Milan Krkobabić, Minister in charge of the regional development and public companies operation coordination in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, said Serbia would do everything to let the cooperatives become the village support again and the villagers’ products become – goods.
– The cooperatives in various forms, beside the transfer of technologies and knowledge, are the basis for the village survival in the 21st century, but also the realistic offer to young people as regarding the dilemma – to stay or go. In addition to this, Government of the Republic of Serbia is ready to support the cooperatives in these regions, under support of prominent experts of the Village Board of Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, said Krkobabić.
The Conference was opened by the President of the Cooperative Union of Serbia Nikola Mihajlović, who welcomed Mihajlo Avramović, great-grandson of the founder of the first cooperative, with the same name, as long ago as in 1894. The attendees were also Miloš Milovanović, representative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Javier Álvarez, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Embassy of Spain, the representatives of the Embassy of Italy, Ministry of Agriculture, as well as many representatives of the Cooperative Unions of the neighboring countries.
