Minister Mrs. Amaia Barredo: “In this legislature, the promotion of generational change, support for Rioja Alavesa and port investments in Mutriku, Ondarroa and Bermeo are priorities”

• The minister presents her action programme for the period 2024-2028 to the parliamentary committee
• Priority attention to the first sector with 5 strategic challenges: profitability and competitiveness; generational change and entrepreneurship; quality of life and rural empowerment; innovation and sustainability; and territorial development
• 180 departmental actions, a new law on Agricultural and Food Policy and 6 new strategies
• Rioja Alavesa will have a roadmap for public-private and inter-institutional collaboration, with structural measures, promotion of quality, differentiation, and positioning
• 5 million euros for the promotion of Rioja Alavesa in booming national and international markets: the USA, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom
• Strengthening generational change with 7 specific programmes in the first sector
• The structuring of the fishing sector supports the merger of the coastal fishing organisations of Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia into a single organisation
• 20 million euros for the consolidation of the breakwater of the port of Mutriku, ice factories in Ondarroa and Bermeo and the Bermeo dry dock

Vitoria-Gasteiz, (Basque Country) 2024 09 25

The Department of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government's, headed by Minister Mrs Amaia Barredo, highlights from its work programme for the current legislature, among other initiatives, the "promotion of generational change in the countryside and at sea, support for winegrowers, wineries and exports from Rioja Alavesa and port improvements in Mutriku, Ondarroa and Bermeo".

Mrs Amaia Barredo, Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government, has presented, in the Commission of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Parliament, the action plan of her department for the next four years. The Vice-Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Policy Raúl Pérez Iratxeta and the Directors of Fisheries and Aquaculture Leandro Azkue and Services Ion Agirre participated alongside her.

Barredo has highlighted "the series of uncertainties and geopolitical tensions that are registered in the social and economic relations of the entire planet that have a direct impact on the agri-food and productive aspects of the first sector".

“The external dependence on products and services that are essential for our well-being has become evident and this lesson requires making decisions and changing behaviour in order to guarantee our future development, which is why we must emphasise the strategic nature of food production and the role played by agricultural and fishing production as a guarantor of food and a transmitter of cultural, social and environmental values” he stressed.