On September 28, the first meeting of the Regional Committee of Representatives of the SME Organics project took place at the headquarters of ADR Northwest, which brings together 22 organizations and companies active in the ecological sector, such as: the Agency for Financing Rural Investments, the National Federation of Agriculture Ecological, county agricultural directorates, agricultural chambers, organic certification bodies, local action groups from the countryside, universities, research institutes, clusters and associations active in the food industry, IT companies that support the online marketing of organic products such as and producers, processors and importers of organic products from the North-West Region.

Mrs. General Director of ADR Nord-West, Sanda Cătană, stated on this occasion: "This first meeting is very important for the creation of the partnership framework necessary for the project, considering that the member organizations will contribute with their own expertise to the elaboration of a regional diagnosis of the ecological sector and, subsequently, to the identification of support measures for the Regional Action Plan. The project is a first in Romania from the perspective of the elaboration of this plan, which is to address relevant measures to the key components of the value chain of the ecological sector, in the direction of supporting businesses, by developing synergies both between local actors active in the value chain of the ecological sector, as well as between organizations that implement various policies and funding programs".
ADR Nord-Vest is a partner in the SME Organics project - Increasing the competitiveness of SMEs active in industries that use ecological materials and products, financed by the European Territorial Cooperation Program INTERREG Europe. The project will take place between April 1, 2016 - March 31, 2020 and aims to develop Regional Action Plans (Organic Action Plans) for each of the partner regions, based on diagnostic analyses, which will be developed by involving organizations active in the ecological sector from these regions, through the contribution of established partners in the field and through the exchange of good practices between the initiatives, measures and strategies of the member regions in the consortium.

The project consortium consists of: the Development Agency of the Navarra Region in Spain (Coordinator), the International Institute for Organic Agriculture based in Belgium as a supporting partner (IFOAM-EU) and the partners: the Swiss Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (FiBL), the Institute Mediterranean of Agronomy of Bari (CIHEAM MAIB), Puglia Region of Italy, INTERBIO Association of the Aquitaine Limousin Poitou-Charentes Region of France, Navarra Region Government through the Department of Rural Development, Environment and Public Administration, Lodzkie Region of Poland, ADR North-West from Romania, the University of Applied Sciences from Finland and the Union of Chambers of Commerce and Industry from the Lombardy Region from Italy.
According to our data, in the North-West Region there are over 3200 ecologically certified operators, representing almost 30% of the total certifications in Romania. The most operators are found in Bistriţa-Năsăud county (30%) and in Cluj county (20%). The most common organic products in the region are cereals, clover, berries and mushrooms from spontaneous collection, milk and yogurt, apples, blueberries, sea buckthorn.

Contact details: Andreea Marcu, communication expert, phone: 0264/431550, fax: 0264/439222, mobile: 0755 777012, comunicare@nord-vest.ro
"The content of this material does not necessarily represent the official position of the European Union or the Government of Romania".