East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October 2010 Introduction INVESTMENTS ACROSS BORDERS: THE WAY FORWARD FOR AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE WESTERN BALKAN COUNTRIES 14 October Istanbul, Turkey Richard Eberlin Land Tenure and Rural Development Officer FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia Budapest, Hungary

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Overview Introduction Activities so far Results Some questions

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Introduction SWG – APFs and SWG meetings – SWG has prepared, as part of their mandate, several assessments and proposals for cross-border projects EastAgri in Paris, September 2008: “RT 4 - Participatory approaches to rural development in the Western Balkans” collaboration SWG-FAO – workshop in Prague, February 2009: “Rural Development in EU-Accession Countries - Support Programmes and Capacity Building” collaboration SWG-FAO-EC

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Activities SWG-FAO: – regional projects, e.g: “Capacity building for rural develeopment at local level in SEE” “Support for establishment of rural development networks in SEE countries” FAO work on related rural development issues, e.g.: – Non Wood Forest Products (NWFP) – food quality linked to geographical origin (PDO/PGI) collaboration FAO-EC – EC-FAO study “Potential for Diversification of the Rural Sector/Economy in Albania and Montenegro” – JRC study “Facilitating an area-based development approach in a selected region in the Western Balkans”

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Results 1 st JRC seminar, 6-7 September 2010 – ABD was never used in CB areas FAO-EC study – (1) "A Concept for Rural Economy Diversification and short Review of its Experience in Europe" – (2) "Review of rural diversification experience in Albania and Montenegro" political support is available through SWG

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Some questions new approach needed? JRC study lead to a new approach? e.g.: – CBAD - Cross Border Area Development – CBARD - Cross Border Area Rural Development – CBTD - Cross Border Territorial Development specific economic development concept for border areas? INTEREG not sufficient to foster CB cooperation? do we need simply specific support measures/ instruments for cross-border areas (e.g. LFA/Mountain areas)? – e.g. finance – e.g. specific trade regime – e.g. specific regime for persons (taxes) or only question of political will?

East Agri ROUND TABLE 4; Istanbul, 14 October Thank you for your attention & Looking forward to an interesting and conclusive discussions