The meeting was an opportunity to sum up the earlier cooperation between Poland and Israel in the area of agriculture and to outline future plans for developments in this domain.

Both parties evaluated existing relations in the area of agriculture positively, in particular in terms of trade and R&D cooperation. The participants of the meeting emphasised the need to harness potential in these fields to an even fuller extent. Minister Grzegorz Puda emphasised that it is essential to sustain dialogue on agricultural issues, also at the level of the leaders of agriculture ministries in both countries.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Israel, Alon Schuster extended an invitation to Minister Puda to pay a visit in Israel.

An important topic raised during the talks involved scientific and expert networking. The willingness to cooperate in water resource management was also emphasised. Tal Ben-Ari Yaalon informed that Israeli entrepreneurs are interested in exporting new technologies to Poland. Minister Grzegorz Puda emphasised that Poland may be particularly interested in cooperation on advanced irrigation solutions.

When discussing the state of trade, Minister Puda expressed his hope that the matters related to market access for selected agricultural products from Poland would be clarified soon in bilateral agreements with Israel. He emphasised that Poland was interested in strengthening the exports of agricultural products to Israel, but also in importing from this country the goods that are in short supply while being sought in the Polish market.

Israel has been gaining popularity among Polish producers in the agricultural sector. For many years Poland has recorded a positive trade balance in its trade in agricultural products with Israel. The value of agricultural products exported between January and September 2020 reached EUR 185.3 million. During the period in question, it was mainly beef and sugar that we exported to Israel.