GREETING FROM SERRES CHAMBER’S PRESIDENT, CHRISTOS MEGKLAS, FOR THE AgriBusiness Forum

It is with great pleasure that I personally and the Board of Directors of Serres Chamber of Commerce and Industry welcome you in Serres. We applaud the selection of our Prefecture for the organization of the AgriBusiness Forum. The choice was not at all accidental, as our county represents 10% of our country’s agriculture; it has a wide variety of agricultural crops and an even larger variety of livestock with rare breeds and many comparative advantages (fertile plain, Strymonas River, geothermy, etc.). All these advantages create prospects for development through the rural economy for the overall prosperity of the county and the well-being of its inhabitants, in the framework of the leading role that a modern and innovative agricultural sector should have in the productive model of our country.
We believe that the Agribusiness Forum, which brings in our country applied policies and specialized scientific knowledge through international standards of good practice, contributes to the development of the agricultural economy in the fields of primary cultivation, processing, trading and export of agricultural products. Development tools are the exploitation of knowledge, technology and innovation, as well as the production of certified branded products of high added value, factors that are prerequisites for our country to conquer its position in the competitive international environment of the agricultural and agri-food sector.
The Agribusiness Forum contributes to the achievement of our vision of increasing exports of agricultural products, particularly according to the model of the Netherlands, as we have the opportunity to watch – amongst other important and worthy rapporteurs – and to open horizons of cooperation with professors and scientists of the international reputation and recognized prestige of the Dutch University Wageningen University & Research.
We invite you all to participate in the Agribusiness Forum. Let us all contribute to the success of the Conference and see its realization in our country, not only as an important means of promotion but also as a challenge to make effective use of its conclusions in the direction of the improvement and outward orientation of agricultural production at local and national level.

Christos Megklas
Serres Chamber’s President