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CIAA in focus
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EU Enlargement and the Business Support Programme
Food Safety for an Enlarged Europe CIAA’s third Business Support Programme (BSP) has successfully come to an end in March 2005. This marked the end of a four-year long, sustained effort by CIAA to assist the food and drink industry in Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) in their entry into the EU single market. Successive projects over the last four years have been the result of fruitful cooperation between CIAA, National Federations and European sector associations. The overall budget for BSP activities within the CEECs has amounted to €4.2 million (80% funded by the European Commission and 20% funded by CIAA and its partners). The first two BSP projects (BSP 1 and BSP 2) took place between 1999 and 2002. This was then followed by the “New BSP” project that started in 2003 and focused on three main objectives:
As a result, activities with the eight new Member States’ National Federations (Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) have been extended and strengthened. The National Federations of Romania and Bulgaria, countries expected to join the EU in a few years time, have also been closely involved. BSP Achievements
The main benefits of these achievements for the food and drink industry have been:
The BSP Programme allowed CIAA:
The food and drink sectors associations in the CEECs, and through them the food and drink companies, have been reliable and constructive partners throughout this process. BSP Challenges Implementation of the evolving food legislation in the CEECs will remain a challenge for the years to come. CIAA, with the help of its local members, will continue to provide all the necessary assistance to make this process as smooth as possible. |
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