23 August 2016 — Philippine Ambassador to Poland Patricia Ann V. Paez said that the Philippines should partner with Poland to modernize the country’s agricultural production, especially since Poland has fully mechanized its agricultural sector.

A wide array of agricultural machineries was on display during the Polish Food Festival (Polskiej Ztwnosci Z Gruntu Polska) which Ambassador Paez, Principal Assistant for Economic Diplomacy Attache Evelyn Vega and Attache Edith Credo attended last August 06. The event was organized by Mr. Slawomir Izbedski who is the President of the All Poland Trade Union of Farmers and Farmer Organizations.

During the Polish Food Festival, Ambassador Paez, Principal Assistant Vega and Attache Credo met officials of Poland’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, namely, Undersecretary of State Mr. Rafal Romanowsk and Deputy Director of the Department of Agricultural Markets Mr. Dariusz Goszczynski, as well as with Member of Parliament and Chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee Dr. Jaroslaw Sachajko.

MP Dr. Sachajko is a strong advocate of the revival and promotion of Polish brand names which were internationally famous before but which disappeared during the communist era. An example is Ursus, a Polish-owned agricultural machinery-producing company.

They also met with the President of Pronar Mr. Sergiusz Martyniuk. Pronar is the undisputed leader in the production and sales of machineries and equipment for agriculture, municipal services and transportation.

The festival was launched to promote Polish agricultural machineries, agricultural and livestock products, domestically-processed food products, and food ingredients from various regions.

The Ambassador informed the agriculture and Pronar officials that one of the Embassy’s priorities is to develop agricultural cooperation between the Philippines and Poland because agricultural modernization is one of the top priorities of the Duterte administration. Conversely, Polish officials responded by saying that a key  priority of the Agriculture Ministry is to search for new markets for Poland’s agriculture and livestock produce, especially in Asia. END