Hungary feted as newest EUROFISH member at Governing Council
The EUROFISH Governing Council is an annual event attended by representatives from the organisation’s member countries and their embassies, from observer countries and their embassies, as well as from observer organisations. This year not only saw several senior officials attending the event but was also the first Governing Council to be attended by Hungary as a full member of EUROFISH. Hungary formally joined EUROFISH as of November 2018.
The attendees gather to review the organisation’s performance in the year that has passed and approve the programme of activities for the coming year. Member countries’ representatives make concrete proposals for activities that are of interest to the individual country, or perhaps, to several. This year, for example, the organisation will be co-organising a conference in Italy on aquaculture, that was originally initiated by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Tourism Policies and the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) but will be of interest to several EUROFISH member countries.
The eighteenth session of the Eurofish Governing Council will be held on 31 January and 1 February 2019. Representatives from the 13 member countries of EUROFISH (Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey) will discuss the organisation’s activities during the course of 2018 as well as discuss and approve the work programme proposed for 2019. Representatives from several observer countries as well as from institutions with which EUROFISH closely cooperates are expected to attend the meeting too. This will be the first session of the Governing Council that Hungary will attend as a member following its ratification of the EUROFISH Establishment agreement last year.
Hungary, one of the first countries (along with Latvia and Estonia) to sign the Eurofish Agreement in 2000, has now ratified it, making Hungary the thirteenth member of the organisation. The other members are Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, and Turkey. Dated 14 November 2018, the ratification has been confirmed by the FAO, the depositary of the EUROFISH Establishment Agreement.
Eurofish will once again host a Business Platform at Seafood Expo Russia accommodating companies from the Turkish seafood sector as well as representatives of the Turkish administration. Farmed fish from Turkey, primarily seabass, seabream and rainbow trout, is already exported to some 80 countries around the world including Russia, which imports some 10,000 tonnes of fish. Turkish companies consider Russia a market with potential as fish consumption is below average so there is scope for growth. Companies can also offer a wide range of products to Russian importers – fresh, frozen, fillets, smoked, breaded, and highly value-added items. Eurofish will facilitate meetings between Turkish and Russian companies and provide the services necessary for both sides to benefit from the exchange. Turkey is one of Eurofish’s 12 member countries. For more information about the Eurofish Business Platform, contact Aleksandra Petersen, at