Rural Development and Food Μinister Spilios Livanos, in an interview with SKAI TV on Monday, presented the main priorities of the ministry, noting that the goal is to subsidise infrastructure, increase exports, train farmers and promote the “Greek Diet” brand. He also spoke about the new EU Common Agricultural Policy, which will bring 19.7 billion euros to Greece, and stressed the need for judicious investment in infrastructure.
“If we manage our investments in infrastructure soundly and increase production and exports, giving added value to our products, then we will have succeeded. If the money is spent on simple grants then we will have failed, as has been the case in previous decades.
Our ally in this effort is the Recovery Fund,” Livanos underlined and added: “The priority of the ministry is the promotion, worldwide, of the Greek Diet brand. Greece has the privilege of producing excellent products. These products must acquire an identity, they must acquire a branding as the Greek diet. We have a wealth to consume ourselves and to consume it in large quantities as part of a healthy diet but also as a part of our culture, our tradition and our history, which we must connect with our tourism. Tourists can become the best ambassadors of the Greek diet. But we must understand, first of all, in our families, in our schools, that we must prefer Greek products, not out of nationalism, but because they are better in quality. The primary and secondary sector, which I have the honour to serve, is essentially the driving force for the Greek economy to start at another level. But it must be linked to tourism, culture and our health policy. If we succeed and create this new framework, internally and then externally, I believe in a few years we will work miracles.”
SOURCE: AMNA
