Bilateral cooperation

During ten years our priorities and sectors of co-operation with foreign countries have significantly changed according to our development. The co-operation started with the import of used agricultural machines in the way of humanitarian aid in the beginning of the 1989-90. Important role was played by training on all levels: from head officials to farmers. An advisory system was developed where the Danish, Germans and Dutch participated most actively.

During the years 1992-95 the major donor countries for Estonia were European Union (22%), Finland (17%), the USA (13%), Denmark (10%), Germany (9%). By sectors the most aid during this period was received by the environment (15,6%), agriculture (14,4%), entrepreneurship (12,1%), government/democratisation (12%), education, training (10%), social sector (6%), energy (5,6%), economy (4,4%), transport (4,2%), national defence and maintenance of law and order (3,6%), finance (3,6%), other (8,5%). Agriculture received grain aid from the USA and concentrated feed from Italy during the first half of the 1990s.

In the international relations of the Ministry of Agriculture today, bilateral visits also have their role. In 2006, the Minister of Agriculture visited Germany (three times), Austria (twice), Latvia, Poland, France, Norway and Spain. Furthermore, cooperation with countries east of Estonia also intensified in 2006. The Minister participated in the official delegation of the President of the Republic on his visit to Moldova and Georgia. Estonia was visited by the Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture, who was interested in cooperation in the spheres of the EU, agricultural research and food safety. A memorandum of understanding was signed between the two ministers in 2008. In March 2007, the Premier of the state of Schleswig-Holstein Peter Harry Carstensen visited Estonia and met with the Minister of Agriculture and the Prime Minister. They discussed the successful cooperation between the two states and planned the activities of the INTERREG “Baltic Sea Food Route” project.
 

It has become a tradition of the delegation of the Ministry of Agriculture to visit the international exhibition Grüne Woche. The delegation visits it every year and traditionally, meetings with ministers of other countries are held. In 2007, the Minister of Agriculture had meetings with the ministers of the German federal states. In 2008, meetings were held with the delegations of Ukraine and Russia, Sweden, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Kazakhstan, and Sachsen-Anhalt. The Ministry of Agriculture has a good tradition to send its representatives to the Salon International de l´Agriculture fair in Paris, France. The Ministry´s delegation also has a tradition of visiting Riga Food exhibition in Latvia and AGROBALT in Lithuania. In addition to visits, the Ministry received guests from abroad, for example, delegations from Thuringia and Bavaria, farmers from Norway and France, students from the University of Birmingham, a sprinkler irrigation organisation from Chile, New Zealand’s Special Trade Envoy, the Vietnamese ministry, and many other guests during the year. Overall, foreign relations have become a busy part of the Ministry´s everyday business.