The Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched the National Rural Development Network (NRDN), financed with 108 million lei (approximately 24.7 million Euros) until 2015.
Through this network farmers will receive assistance for projects, developing local businesses with European money. So far the NRDN has 530 members and 81 Local Action Groups (LAG), selected through an open competition last year. Farmers, local public authorities, NGOs and other decision-makers involved in the development of business in rural areas can still sign up as members in the network.
Members of the network will be given assistance and technical information regarding the National Rural Development Programme, as well as training in good practices. The support unit for the network has its headquarters in Bucharest, with eight other regional offices throughout the country (Timisoara, Bucharest, Craiova, Zalau, Iasi, Targoviste, Braila and Targu-Mures).
Mr Stelian Fuia, the Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development said that “the network must ensure a better coordination of the Local Action Groups. Each group will be able to submit local projects up to 200,000 Euros, with a maximum of 2.8 million Euros per group, so each group will be able to have up to 13 projects.”
