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Tag: Mehdi Eker

  • Turkey’s dairy product exports to EU to restart

    Turkey’s dairy product exports to EU to restart

    Turkey has obtained the right to export dairy products to the European Union which approves that Turkish firms comply with the union’s standards, Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker says

    Turkey has gained the right to export dairy products to the European Union once again after a period of 13 years, Agriculture Minister Mehdi Eker announced yesterday.

    “The EU’s Directorate General for Health and Consumers has confirmed that Turkish firms comply with EU standards for selling dairy products to the EU members. The legislation about the issue will enter into force on April 3,” Eker said at the introduction meeting of the dairy exports project, which is being carried out by the ministry and the Packaged Milk and Milk Products Industrialists Association (ASÜD).

    The minister stated that Turkey’s dairy exports to the EU had been halted in 2000 when the union took a decision on dairy exports regulations and found Turkey’s standards low. He also said that Turkey had not been able to export dairy products to other countries that also applied the same EU standards. “Some Middle East countries did not import dairy products from Turkey because it could not be exported to the EU,” he said.

    The EU did not allow Turkey to export dairy products because Turkey was not able to provide safeguards against animal diseases, did not take adequate measures on animal health, or provide control mechanisms in the dairy production phase, including hygiene and laboratory conditions.

    Turkey complies with EU

    This approval by the EU shows that the standards applied by the Turkish state, private sector and laboratories on animal health, animal products and the struggle against animal diseases are at the same level as the union, according to Eker.

    He stressed that efforts had been made since 2006 to restart dairy exports to the EU. “A seven-year struggle has come to an end with a success,” he said.

    Six Turkish firms have been approved to export dairy products to the EU for the first phase. They are Aynes Gıda, Pinar Süt, Ak Gıda, Tat Konserve Sek Süt İşletmesi, Natura Gıda and Unilever’s Algida.

    Eker also noted that breeding incentives had increased to 2.2 billion Turkish Liras last year from 83 million liras, adding that they expected it to reach a better point this year.

    He also revealed that a “Turkey Dairy and Meat Institution” would be established after Cabinet approval this week.

    via Turkey’s dairy product exports to EU to restart — BlackSeaGrain – All information on agriculture and food industry.

  • Agriculture Ministry to hire 2,500 experts in villages in 2011

    Agriculture Ministry to hire 2,500 experts in villages in 2011

    Agriculture and Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker has said his ministry will hire 2,500 specialists to be employed in villages around the country where farming and stockbreeding are the mainstay of the economy.

    mehdi eker

    Speaking at a press conference held in İstanbul on Saturday, Eker noted that they already have 5,000 such personnel employed in 5,000 villages and that their aim now is to improve the efficiency in agriculture and animal husbandry through direct and frequent contact with producers. “We will prioritize the villages with potential,” he added. The ministry hired 17,000 people — 6,500 of whom were engineers — in the largest wave of recruitment, in 2003, the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) first year in office after the general elections that were held in late 2002.

    As part of his Saturday remarks, Eker also said his ministry will be renamed the Ministry of Agriculture and Food next year, a change that was approved by the relevant parliamentary commission as well as the Cabinet, he said.

    On the specific issue of the high prices of red meat, Eker said he personally follows the prices on a daily basis in 13 locations to see if the thousands of tons of imported livestock have helped alleviate the troubling situation in the market. In that regard, he told reporters attending the conference that the cost of one kilogram of domestic red meat for a seller is around TL 14 but some supermarkets are making a hefty profit by selling it at TL 25 to 30.

    “There is an issue that bothers my conscience. If someone is buying red meat for TL 14 per kilogram, they can sell it for up to TL 20 with a 30 percent margin of profit. But if this meat is sold for TL 25 at a supermarket, then this means the market is making an excessive profit. I am complaining about this to you. Ask your consciences. It cannot be legitimized by saying that we have a free market economy and sellers can sell at whatever price they feel like. There must be a measure of fairness,” he said.

    Following the unexpected surge in prices, the government authorized the state-owned Meat and Fish Institution (EBK) to import livestock in April. The EBK then made large purchases from abroad and will continue to do so until its authorization expires at the end of next year. These moves, however, have fallen short of reducing the market prices by as much as expected.

  • Agriculture minister: Turkey’s eastern border becomes EU’s eastern border

    Agriculture minister: Turkey’s eastern border becomes EU’s eastern border

    Mehmet Mehdi Eker 241207Turkish Agriculture & Rural Affairs Minister Mehdi Eker has said that after the food chapter was opened in Turkey’s EU membership negotiations, Turkey’s eastern border had become EU’s eastern border in terms of quality, standard, food and hygiene, Anadolu Agency reported.

    It means that EU’s eastern border is now with Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, said Eker who spoke at a meeting on “public-non-governmental organizations cooperation in Turkey-EU membership process” on Tuesday.

    The meeting, which took place at Swiss Hotel in Ankara, focused on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policies.

    Eker recalled that “food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy” chapter was opened to negotiations on June 30, 2010 in Turkey’s EU membership talks, adding that the chapter covered a large area.

    Eker noted that the food issue concerned everybody including producers, consumers, manufacturers and industrialists, adding that the arrangement on food issue was in fact an arrangement on living standards.

    He said that the food standards in Turkey would be the same as in EU countries.

    Eker said that Veterinary Services, Phytosanitary, Food and Feed Law was adopted in Turkey, and it went into effect on December 13, 2010. He added that they needed cooperation of all parts of society, institutions and organizations in adopting secondary regulations in the process.

    via Agriculture minister: Turkey’s eastern border becomes EU’s eastern border | Economy & Business news |.