Cecot has informed the Govern de la Generalitat that it considers it essential to streamline and simplify administrative procedures, as well as to strengthen the legal certainty of investments, with the aim of boosting the competitiveness of the agri-food industry in Catalunya.
These requests were made at a working session held last Wednesday in Terrassa (Barcelona), in which the conseller of Agriculture of the Generalitat, Òscar Ordeig; the president of Cecot, Xavier Panés; the general director of Agro-food Companies, Quality and Gastronomy, Joan Gòdia, and the vice president of the employers' association, Núria Betriu, participated, as Cecot reported this Thursday in a statement.
At the meeting, Panés stressed that the transition toward a more sustainable, digital and competitive agri-food model must also be economically feasible, and he called for the new regulatory obligations to be accompanied by "reasonable deadlines, support instruments and legal certainty" that make it possible to carry out the necessary investments.
Throughout the meeting, other demands from the business community were also put on the table, among them the drive for innovation, internationalization, the adoption of new technologies, the increase in business size, the attraction and retention of talent, sustainability and improvements in the efficiency of resource use.
The vision of Òscar Ordeig on the agri-food sector
For his part, Ordeig defended the appropriateness of placing food as a driver of economic, scientific and technological dynamism, as well as a lever for the development of the rural world, opting to prioritize quality and added value over a mere increase in volume and quantity.
In relation to administrative simplification, the conseller maintained that this is a matter of "common sense" and emphasized that, although the essential controls must be maintained, it is necessary to simplify or eliminate those procedures that hinder activity without adding value.
During his intervention, Ordeig also focused on the opportunities opening up for the sector in areas such as bioeconomy and the circular economy, forest management, the development of bioproducts and the modernization of irrigation systems.