A day about local products
In addition to the theoretical and practical lectures, during the day the participants had the opportunity to personally visit some of the developments in the border area.
Slaven Klobučar, specialist expert of the Committee of the European Regions, greeted the audience in Croatian, emphasizing in his speech that border regions, as laboratories of cooperation, provide an excellent opportunity to find effective solutions aimed at building short supply chains. Péter Kiss-Parciu, the Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, drew attention to the fact that in this work, local organizations and especially the European Territorial Associations (ETTs) can play an important role. The Secretary General of the Association of European Border Regions, Martín Guillermo-Ramírez, personally welcomed the participants and said that although there are still many legal and administrative obstacles to the cross-border distribution of local products, there are tools - such as the B-solutions initiative - that help in overcoming obstacles.
The professional lectures in the morning focused on supporting the cross-border trade of local producers. In this context, dr. Judit Füzér, deputy director of the Pannon EGTC, presented the CrossMarkets project implemented within the framework of the B-Solutions initiative, which examined the legal possibilities of cross-border distribution of local products. At the end of the morning block, Dr. Katalin Fekete, CESCI's legal advisor, outlined the possible solutions regarding the cross-border trade of local products along the Hungarian-Croatian border. The proposed solution process can start at the initiative of the department or the mayors' declaration of intent. Based on this, the intergovernmental Economic Joint Committee can advocate the creation of special national legislation in order to ensure interoperability (registration, official traceability, market operator registers, unification of conditions).
During the study trip, the group stopped in Goričan to visit the park and visitor center around Lake Soderica, then in Tótszerdahely to visit the boathouse, fishing pond and bicycle rest area, and in Molnári to visit the water tour mooring, the picnic area and the nature trail, where the special local the participants could also taste rété. The event ended with a joint kerkaszent king dinner.