On January 18-20, 2023, COA team took part in the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin, Germany. The 2023 GFFA brought together about 3,000 policymakers, scientists, business and NGOs representatives from more than 100 countries to discuss key issues of global agricultural and food policies and trends. The key theme of this year's GFFA was "Food Systems Transformation: A Worldwide Response to Multiple Crises".
During the Innovation Forum that took place in an exhibition format, COA presented information about Ukraine's organic agriculture, main achievements of the project and the program to support Ukraine's organic farms which was initiated by the project and its partners in 2022 – 2023. The project information was presented at the stand of AFC Agriculture and Finance Consultants GmbH - the company which is implementing the German-Ukrainian Cooperation in Organic Agriculture (COA) project. The stand was visited, in particular, by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solsky and other members of the Ukrainian delegation to the Forum as well as by the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany Cem Özdemir, the Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture of Germany Dr. Ophelia Nick and other high-ranking officials of this Ministry.
During the visit to the Innovation Forum, German Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture Cem Özdemir awarded Dr. Stefan Dreesmann, COA team leader, with an award for his extraordinary contribution and achievements of the project team in the German-Ukrainian bilateral cooperation program.
Overall, the participation in the Forum allowed COA to inform a wide range of stakeholders about the organic sector of Ukraine during the war and about the possibilities of supporting Ukraine during this difficult period.
For reference: The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is held annually by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture during the Green Week. GFFA is the largest platform in Europe for discussing key issues of global agricultural development and agricultural and food policies.
