Vorwort von Edith Klauser

Agriculture will play a crucial role in the EU 2020 Strategy also in the future.The Austrian way of a multifunctional, regional and sustainable agriculture has proved successful and is creating great opportunities for our domestic enterprises to position themselves in new markets. The Department III, "Agriculture and Nutrition", of the Austrian Ministry of Life covers all important sectors of agricultural production.

Our employees have a comprehensive know-how in these fields and are pleased to help Austria's agriculture and food sector use new market opportunities in the best possible way. Agricultural and environmental attachés represent Austria in the relevant countries and take great efforts to support the matters of concern to Austria. Direct information on agricultural issues, environmental concerns and also forest topics is supplied by our local experts. In addition to the seven agricultural and environmental attachés at the Austrian embassies in Rome, Paris, Budapest, Prague, Zagreb, Moscow, and Washington, there are also attachés at the Permanent Representation of Austria in Brussels.

Some of them are responsible for more than one country in South-East Europe. For example, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Slovakia and Poland are dealt  with together; the same applies to Hungary and Romania, or to Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Bulgaria.

I would like to invite you to visit the website of the Ministry of Life to get an idea of the activities and initiatives of the attachés: www.lebensministerium.at

I wish you all the best and great success for your work in the target countries.

Edith Klauser
Head of the Department "Agriculture and Nutrition"